


How Purple Furries Both Ruined and Saved my Life: My Journey Through the Universe

by form_troy_boltron



Series: Blade of Marmora Adam (Voltron) [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam-Centric, Adashi reunion, Altean Adam, Angst, BUT once he's there, Bisexual Lotor (Voltron), Blade of Marmora Adam, Canonverse AU, Dads of Marmora (Voltron), Drama, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Galra!Adam, Galtean, Galtean adam, Good Lotor (Voltron), He's there, Humor, Langst, Lotor redemption arc, M/M, Paladin Adam, Reunion, Slow Burn, Tax evasion, adam is a sarcastic lil bithc, and i’m going to give it to you, blade of marmora, but he only shows up about halfway through, champion!adam, i love you adam, i’ll add more tags as I update the fic bc spoilers, lotor is one of the main characters, paladam, purple paladin, purple paladin adam, so you gotta be patient if you want lotor, there’s a little bit of everything in this fic tbh, you deserved better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2019-08-05 02:37:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 40
Words: 79,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16359083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/form_troy_boltron/pseuds/form_troy_boltron
Summary: Snarky, sarcastic Adam is sent to Kerberos to recover his ex-fiancé’s crashed ship.Everything goes wrong, but Adam is a survivor. He’s not going to let something like death get in the way of the satisfaction of telling Shiro “I told you so.”Through a series of coincidences, Adam ends up joining the Blade of Marmora. This is the story of all his adventures, mishaps, and shenanigans as he tries to survive through all the universe throws at him.





	1. Trapped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello!!!! Before you start reading, here are some general notes about the fic!  
> -all ships tagged will be endgame, even if they haven’t been brought up yet in the fic.  
> -this fic is somewhat canon compliant. While certain plot points, events, and relationships are going to be the same as they are in the show, some things are going to be drastically different. (S7 and S8 are going to be WAYYYY different.)  
> -timeline for this fic is from s1 all the way to post-canon! (as you can see, I’ve still got a lotta story to tell)  
> -be warned, there are some swear words in this fic as well implied themes.  
> -follow me on social media!!! I’d really appreciate it! My Twitter is @formtroyboltron and my ig is @form.troy.boltron
> 
> Enjoy!

When I piloted a mission to Kerberos to recover my ex-fiancé’s doomed ship, I didn’t expect to be kidnapped by a bunch of purple furry aliens and become a gladiator of some sort, fighting for my life as crowds of them watch, cheering. But hey, I guess that’s just how it is in this bitch of a universe sometimes.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for me, I’ve become a favorite of this evil witch lady named Haggar. She’s second in command to Emperor Zarkon, this big, evil, turtle-looking Galra, but she doesn’t spend her time conquering the universe like him. No, her hobby is torturing and experimenting on prisoners like myself. And boy, does she love using me as her lab rat.

Being her test subject does have its perks. When I lost my leg in a particularly grueling battle (and later, when I lost my eye in a different fight), she created replacement body parts which were tailor-made for me. The leg is a lot stronger than my old one, and the new eye can shoot lasers, which is pretty useful in a situation like mine. Without these upgrades, I’m not sure I’d be alive.

The downside, of course, is that I’m enslaved in alien jail, far from home, constantly having to risk my life for the sole purpose of entertaining the aliens who’ve taken everything from me. Sometimes, if I’ve been particularly cooperative, Haggar will let me gaze out at the stars as she puts me under for an experiment. Today is one of those days.

But as I stare up into the stars, I don’t get my usual solace from them. These are not the constellations I grew up memorizing and doodling in my notebook when Iverson’s lectures got boring (so pretty much always). No, these stars are cold and foreign, and they only remind me how far from home I am— and how unlikely it is that I’ll ever return. As the anesthesia starts to kick in and the stars start to fade to black, I feel completely and utterly alone.

~ ~ ~

I wake up back in my cell with a splitting headache. Groaning, I sit up and rub my temples.

“Sleep well, Champion?” I start slightly at the question, not having realized there is someone else in my cell. I look around, and I spot a familiar figure. I sigh and lay back down.

“Oh, it’s just you, Turd. I thought it might actually be someone important,” I say, smirking a bit when the Galra guard stamps his foot in irritation. This particular guard never seems to have anything of importance to do, so he spends his days tormenting prisoners such as myself. He gets a real kick out of making me suffer, but recently, I found out that he (and any of the guards, in fact) can’t touch me without Haggar’s explicit permission. So of course, I use this to my advantage.

“It’s _Throg_ ,” he huffs indignantly, and I shrug, expecting him to go into his usual rant of everything he’d do to me if I wasn’t Haggar’s precious new Champion. (Apparently there was a “Champion” before myself, and I was actually scheduled to face him a couple of weeks ago, but he escaped the day before the match. So now, because of that guy, I have Haggar’s full attention on me now. Yay.) But instead of going off, he turns to the door and says, “Permission to mangle?!”

“No, Throg,” a female voice I recognize all too well replies. I quickly sit up (which does nothing to help my throbbing head), and watch as the woman herself glides into my cell.

“Haggar,” I say, surprised. Before I can stop myself, I mutter, “If I knew you were coming, I might have tidied up a bit.” _Dammit, Adam_ , I think to myself, _hold your tongue_! But instead of striking me dead with her purple lightning bolts, Haggar just laughs. It’s not a pleasant sound, and the harsh noise makes my head hurt even more.

“How do you feel, Champion?” My first instinct is to ask her how she _thinks_ I feel, what with being imprisoned on an alien ship and all, but I realize that there’s something different about me. The Garrison had fixed my eyes before the mission, and I feel the same way now that I did then— that I’m finally seeing for the first time. The cell has always been pitch black, but now I can see the dark purple walls, the outline of the door, and the two figures in front of me without any light. Even in the darkness, I can make out the details adorning Haggar’s cloak, the red marks on her face, and the nick in Throg’s left ear.

I’m surprised to find that my hearing has been enhanced as well. I close my eyes and concentrate, trying to test it. Not only can I hear better, I can tell precisely which direction the sound is coming from. I hear scratching on the wall from the cell behind me, the wailing of someone in the cell across the hall from me, and, from all around, the gentle hum of the ship’s engine.

There’s something else that I can’t quite explain— but apparently Haggar is anticipating this, because she suddenly sends Throg flying towards me. Without thinking, I stand, grab his arm as he’s hurdling through the air, and judo-flip him. Now that I’m standing, I feel taller than I was before.

“Whoa,” I breathe as Throg recovers, shouting a string of galran curse words.

I don’t have much time to think about this newfound revelation, because Haggar barks the command, “Fight!”

“With pleasure,” Throg growls, and he lunges towards me. For someone who’s over two meters tall, he’s awfully nimble and light on his feet. He’s awfully angry, too, and I’m starting to wonder if Haggar wants to see her new champion beaten to a pulp by one of her soldiers.

To both my and Throg’s surprise, I’m easily able to dodge his blows, and I’m shocked when I knock him out cold with a well-timed punch. Despite being in the darkness, recovering from an anesthesia headache, and going up against someone who’s presumably been trained in combat for his entire life (which I know since he brags about it all the time.)

Instead of reveling in my victory, I start to feel a deep sense of dread in the pit of my stomach. I glance over at Haggar, and her sick grin makes my stomach churn.

“You haven’t told me what the operation today was for yet,” I say, uneasy. Usually after a surgery, she tells me which part of my body she replaced and with what, then gives me general instructions about how to use the new parts. She doesn’t just throw me into a fight, especially not with one of her own soldiers. After a moment, I add, not quite able to hide the tremor in my voice, “What did you do to me?”

“I upgraded you,” the witch says, simply. Then she makes a looking glass appear in front of me, and my blood runs cold. The man I see is me, that’s for sure— but he’s also not quite me. I’ve gotten fairly muscular from, you know, constantly having to fight for my life, but that’s been semi-gradual. But the image of myself standing before me looks like he’s been given a dose of Super Soldier Serum. He’s about twenty centimeters taller than me and is absolutely shredded. Also, his hair has two white streaks in it: one in his bangs, and the other running from his scalp to the end of his short ponytail.

But it’s the eyes that get me. Both of my reflection’s irises have turned a deep shade of purple. As I stare into the other me’s eyes, the whites of his eyes turn yellow. We both jump backwards, and I cry out in fear— and that’s when I notice his teeth. I raise my trembling hand up to my mouth, touching what I already know will be there. The awful fangs (and, by extent, everything else I see) aren’t just a mirage created by Haggar’s mirror, they’re actually here, that’s _me_ in that mirror—

“ _What have you done to me_?!” My shriek pierces the air, and I lunge towards Haggar. My fist collides with the mirror, and my reflection shatters, then turns into wisps of smoke. Momentum propels me forwards, and I fly right through Haggar’s body, slamming into the cell wall and hitting the ground.

“It appears that my experiment was a success,” she says gleefully. “I have successfully transfused Quintessence into your life force. But not just any Quintessence,” she adds, and grabs my chin with her hand, forcing me to look up at her. “No, I only used the very best for my Champion. You have Galran Quintessence powering you now— why, you will be the most descructive weapon this universe has ever seen when I am through with you! I look forward to what I can do with you next time, Champion. Until then,” she says, then vanishes, leaving me kneeling in the confines of my cell, alone. She even teleported Throg’s stupid unconscious body out of here.

If she had done this to me when I first got here, I think I would have gone insane, driven mad by the horrid fantasies clawing at my mind. Even now, as my heart rate increases, my breathing becomes quicker and shallower, and my mind starts to race, I feel like the walls are closing in on me. Just the thought of being Galra almost pushes me off into the deep end, but then, I remember what’s kept me alive all this time: _Takashi_.

Takashi is my ex, the one who I went to Kerberos for. It wasn’t planned that way, though— after he left, I was chosen to pilot a mission to Pluto’s largest moon, Charon. It was scheduled for three years later, while Pluto was still in its closest approach to Earth. But with the announcement of the Kerberos mission failure, the public suddenly became a lot more interested in space travel. Due to the surge of popularity, my mission was pushed up, and we launched a little under a month after the news broke, with the new goal of bringing the Kerberos crew home for a proper burial. The mission was only pushed up to be a year sooner than scheduled at first. But someone (probably Admiral Sanda, that ass, always looking to rake funds in for the Garrison) leaked that I was engaged to the pilot of the Kerberos mission, and the entire world became obsessed with my love life. Funding and interest in my mission soared after this, and that’s why it was pushed up so much. In fact, when we left, I didn’t even want to go there anymore. I tried to resign as pilot, but Sanda wouldn’t let me. So instead of having time to properly mourn Takashi and to find a place for his little brother, Keith, to stay, I was shot off into space to recover my ex-fiance, my best friend, and my best friend’s dad, all of whom are presumed to be dead, then lug their corpses back to Earth for an international funeral. My ship had just passed Saturn when the Galra captured us. My two crewmates and I were separated, and I haven’t seen them since.

While everything about being captured is terrible, there’s something Haggar gave me that I needed to carry on— _hope_. I know it’s a crazy thought, but maybe Takashi could have gotten captured by the Galra too. He would probably be in a work camp somewhere, because of his disease, but he might still be alive. Sometimes, I’m ridiculous enough to think that maybe, _just_ maybe, the Galra might have used their advanced tech to cure his disease, and maybe he escaped somehow, and is trying to get back to Earth. It’s stupidly optimistic of me to think this way, but it gives me something to stay alive for.

Instead of focusing on what just happened, I remember him. My heart rate and breathing starts to slow, and I remember what I always used to tell him: “patience yields focus.” I take a few minutes to calm myself down completely before I think about what’s happened to me. It seems like I’m still myself, despite being turned Galra.

 _Not entirely Galra_ , I remind myself, thinking of the reflection. _There’s still a lot of human left in me. I just need to stay alive until I get a chance to escape. I’ll have to wait this one out_.

~ ~ ~

I don’t have to wait long. It’s been less than a week since I was turned, and my opportunity has presented itself in the form of the Galra soldier prodding me in the back with his gun, herding me forwards. We’re a fairly inconspicuous pair because I’m always being moved around, whether it be to the ring or to Haggar’s chambers, and he appears to be a regular galra soldier. But he’s in some sort of trouble and needs to disappear, and, for some reason, decided to bring me along. I’m not complaining.

We reach the escape pods without any trouble, but the pods are guarded by four sentries. As we approach, my companion presses the handle of a knife into my hand, and I give him a slight nod. On his cue, I sprint towards the two sentries on the left, while he runs to engage the other sentries. I slash through the first sentry’s gun with my knife and kick it square in the chest. The other rushes toward me, aiming its gun at my head. I roll to the side, where the first sentry is starting to stand, and I plunge the knife deep into its helmet, causing the electronics inside to shut down. Sentry 1 goes limp, but I can sense Sentry 2 behind me. Using Sentry 1 as my springboard, I jump, flip, and land on top of Sentry 2. I slash through his armor, and its lights go out.

I dive into the escape pod, where my companion is already at the controls. He closes the door and launches us. Seconds later, I watch the explosives he planted rip through the side of the ship, covering our escape. I lean against the side of the ship, trying to catch my breath. Once I recover, I walk to the front of the pod and sit in the co-pilot seat. After a moment of hesitation, I say, “Thank you,” unsure of what else to say. I try to give him the knife back, but he stops me.

“The knife— how did it feel?” I’m not exactly sure how to answer this question, so I look down at it, hoping it’ll give me some answers. I frown at the purple-eyed me reflected in the dark black knife.

“It, uh, fit my hand really well,” I admit. “It actually felt like it was custom-made for me. When I was using it, it almost felt like an extension of my arm. But it’s your blade, you should ta-“

“No,” he interrupts, and unsheathes his sword. I watch, amazed, as it glows purple and morphs into a knife, which is slightly smaller and more angular than the one I hold. “This is my blade, Rising Soul. Certain members of my organization are given two blades— one for their own use, and one for whom they are to mentor.” He offers the hilt of his blade to me. and I take it. The handle is too big, and it’s too light. I’d still be able to use this knife in combat, but it doesn’t feel as right as the other one. I hand it back to him.

“Okay, cool, so maybe this blade was made for me, and I’m supposed to be your apprentice. But how do we know for sure?”

“We go to the base of my Mormon,” he says, and that leaves me with even more questions than before. I try to ask him more, but he is silent for the rest of the trip. On my own, I try to figure out how the hell Mormons got their own space base, and how they got a Galran to join their little space club. I’m imagining my companion here going from door to door, knocking to see if anyone wants to hear about his knife when he suddenly says, “We’re here.”

I look outside, and my jaw drops. Nearby, two black holes are orbiting each other, bending the fabric of space-time around them. A supergiant blue star is caught between the two, being pulled apart by the immense gravity of the binary pair. I’ve never seen anything so stunning in my life. I’m shocked to see a Galran ship fly out from between a black hole and the star, and I start to feel uneasy. My companion, sensing my distrust, says, “Don’t worry. They will not hurt you if you’re with me.”

Thanks, bud. That’s _really_ reassuring. It’s nice to know that this secret society of angry space Mormons won’t tear me to pieces unless my Galra friend, who I’ve known for two hours, indicates to them that I’m a threat.

“Oh,” I say, trying my best not to sound sarcastic. “Thanks.” And with that, he pilots us into the open hangar door of the Galra ship. I can’t help but feel this is all too familiar, and I grip the handle of the knife tightly. I pray I won’t have to use it.


	2. Stranger in a strange land

I step out of the craft alongside my companion, and the first thing I notice is the Galra soldiers. I’m starting to regret coming with this guy, but none of them are rushing towards the plane to arrest me, so that’s a plus. Closer inspection of the soldiers makes me realize they’re different from Zarkon’s troops. Their suits are more black than purple, and they have both masks and hoods on (which seems kind of redundant to me, but hey, who am I to question the fashion choices of this space mafia?) They all carry a blade marked with the same insignia as mine, and that same symbol is holographically projected above the hangar.

“Identify yourself,” one of them demands.

“You first,” I shoot back. _Shit, I shouldn’t have said that_. I’m worried that one of these guys is going to tear me to shreds, but my travel buddy steps in.

“Ulaz,” he says, and takes off his mask. His hand hovers over the hilt of his blade. The guy who spoke earlier, who’s clearly the one in charge, nods at him, and Ulaz unsheathes his knife. He offers it to leader-man, who seems to study it for a moment, then raises his hand. The other Galra lower their weapons, and I let out a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, my exhale attracts the attention of leader-man, and he steps over to me. I straighten my back and look him in the eyes (or at least, the eye holes in his mask.) Despite the fact that this guy exudes an aura of sheer power and could probably snap me in half like a twig, there’s no way I’m letting him see that I’m afraid. After a moment, he circles around me, looking me up and down. Trying to make this moment less awkward, I say, “So, I hear you guys are Mormons?” I’m met with a blank stare from leader-man, so I decide to shut up.

Leader-man finally stops checking me out and looks over to my buddy, Ulaz. “Why did you bring one of Haggar’s experiments here? Are you sure he has no cameras on him?”

“Yes. He is from planet Earth— the same planet Earth where the blue lion was discovered,” he says, and that gets a reaction from the crowd. I shift my feet uncomfortably as hundreds of masked faces turn towards me, re-examining me. Whatever this “blue lion” is, it must be pretty important to these guys.

“I was going to send him back to his own planet, as I did with the other. But the Wicked Conquerer reacted to him in combat. Come,” he says, addressing me. “Show them the blade.” Leader-man nods, indicating that he’ll let me take the blade out without ripping my arm off. Slowly, I pull out the knife and display it to the Galra. My knuckles are white on the hilt.

“While escaping, we ran into sentries, and I gave him the blade to use. Upon contact with his skin, our symbol appeared in the blade with a purple glow.” Had it? I thought the blades just glowed purple with the symbol anyway. I think back, trying to remember if I saw the blade light up when I took it, but I remember he’d given the blade to me while my hands were behind my back. I guess I’ll just have to take his word for it. “The blade has chosen this one.”

“Impossible,” Leader-man says, and I cross my arms, feeling slightly offended. “The knife can only be linked with a Galra. You know this, Ulaz.”

“Well,” I interrupt, trying to ignore all of the eyes on me, “actually, um, I might be a little bit Galra now. I was born human, but, uh, Haggar— you know, the evil witch that works for Zarkon— she actually infused me with some Galra quintessence recently.”

“So Haggar’s research has progressed further,” Leader-man muses, starting to pace back and forth. “We need to find out more. Regris, put together a team to go infiltrate Zarkon’s fleet.” At his command, a large Galra beckons a group of soldiers to follow him, and they leave.

“Wait, how do you not know what Haggar knows? Don’t you Galra have a super-advanced communication system?” I ask, feeling hopelessly lost. Leader-man turns to look at me, but addresses Ulaz.

“How much does he know?”

“Nothing,” Ulaz responds. With a hint of irritation, he adds, “Only my name, because you told him.” I really want to high five this guy now, but I still don’t know if he’s evil or not, so I hold myself back.

“What is your name, human?”

“Adam,” I reply, then mentally kick myself. I should have made a code name or something! Trying to redeem myself, I blurt out the first name that comes to mind: “Adam Shirogane.” I mentally kick myself again, for choosing that last name. I’m still mad at that ass for leaving me for a space rock, and it’s not like I’m going to jump right back into his arms again if we ever meet again.

I try to convince myself that I believe that.

“I am Kolivan.” Ah, so Leader-man does have a name! “I am the leader of this organization. We are called the Blade of Marmora.”

Oh. I guess I must have misheard Ulaz earlier. The name doesn’t make any sense to me, but it does make more sense than space Mormons. And that’s good, because I don’t know much about Mormonism.

“We are a group of Galra who have a different set of ideals than Zarkon.” This is when I realize what kind of people I’ve been taken— no, rescued— by. No Galra I’ve ever met refers to Zarkon without his title. In fact, I think it’s actually a law that when they refer to him, they have to call him “Emperor Zarkon” or simply “Emperor.”

“Are you... working against Zarkon?” I ask. Ulaz, my boy, gives me a slight nod when Kolivan isn’t looking.

“The knowledge you seek lies within the blade you hold. You must awaken it in the Trials of Marmora. But first, you must rest. The witch has drained your energy, and you must recover before the Trials. You will need all of your strength if you wish to survive.” 

~ ~ ~ 

Call me uncultured, but before I came to the Blades, I thought all Galra food was as awful as the concoction I was given in prison. After Kolivan told me about the trials, he led the ship back to their base, where Ulaz and another Blade, Thace, showed me to my living quarters. It’s a windowless room with a bed, a chest of drawers, and a trunk for my belongings. There’s an attached bathroom with its own toilet, sink, and shower. It’s similar in size to the dorm Takashi and I shared at the Garrison, but it feels like a luxury suite compared to the cramped spaceship and cell I’ve been inhabiting for the past few months. After taking a much-needed nap (which lasted sixteen vargas, according to Ulaz. I’m not quite sure what a varga is, though), I joined Ulaz and Thace in the dining hall.

“This stuff is amazing,” I say, swallowing my final bite. Throughout this whole meal, I’ve tried only to focus on the food. However, I can’t help but feel the other Blades’ stares. I stand, indicating that I’m finished, and Thace shows me where to put my used dishes.

“Thace,” I whisper as we walk, “why are you and Ulaz the only ones interacting with me? Have I done something wrong?”

“They are angry with Ulaz for bringing an outsider to our headquarters. Ulaz is prone to taking unnecessary risks, and they are worried about you being here,” he replies. I sigh and place my dishes neatly beside his. “Pass the trials, and you will earn their trust.”

“Why do you trust me?”

“Ulaz trusts you. And I trust Ulaz.” He doesn’t elaborate, and we walk back to the table in silence.

“Are you ready?” Ulaz asks, and I nod. I’m already wearing the specialized suit they gave me, and I have the knife. I’m rested, I’ve eaten, and I’m probably as ready as I’ll ever be.

I’m led into an elevator, and the door is sealed behind me. I can see my reflection in the glassy black surface of the door. We nod at each other and both draw our knives, and I see the purple symbol in his knife. Then the door opens, and my trial begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY CHEESE! I didn’t expect this fic to get over 200 hits in the first 24 hours it was up!!!! Thank you guys so so much!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> sorry for the short filler chapter, but I didn’t want to just throw Adam into the trial without more context. You probably have a lot of questions still, but hey, that’s the point!
> 
> Y’all probably have an idea of what the trial’s going to be like (particularly, who Adam will see in the mindscape), but I think it’ll be interesting for you guys to see my take on Adam’s trial.
> 
> And then, in the chapter after that, I have a surprise for you! Brace yourselves ;)
> 
> Jhvsnhjjhsihhggh thank you all so much again!!!!! I’m really glad that you guys are enjoying this!!!


	3. The trials of Marmora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mentions of past abuse and alcoholism, violence.

I step out of the elevator into an empty room. The door slams shut behind me, and I observe my surroundings. The only exit seems to be an unguarded door on the opposite side of the room. Before I can make it to the door, a hole opens up in the floor, and a Marmoran rises through it. She draws her sword and lunges towards me. I sidestep, but she swiftly changes direction and kicks me in the chest. As I stumble backwards, she tries to stab me, but I’m just barely able to block her blow with my knife.

Just like that, she strikes once more, and this time, I can’t block her— I can only move so that she doesn’t amputate my hand. Her sword slices through my armor, and I cry in pain as it cuts into the skin of my forearm. She swings again, but this time I roll to the side. Before I can stand, though, she’s standing over me with her sword. I kick my legs up and wrap them around her neck, dragging her to the ground. I disarm her and put my blade to her throat.

The door on the other side of the room opens, and I stand, bolting for the door. But to my surprise, the blade doesn’t pursue me— she stands and watches me silently. _Note to self: you don’t have to kill a guard in order to progress in this trial_ , I think to myself.

I take a moment to catch my breath and look down at my left arm. To my surprise, my suit weaves itself back together as I watch, covering the tear up. The pressure of the sleeve should be enough to stop the bleeding, but it certainly doesn’t stop the pain in my dominant arm. Gritting my teeth, I curse myself for messing up so early in the trial. I’m going to have to find a way through this trial with as little fighting as possible.

I enter the next room, and groan when I see two holes open in the floor. But as the blades rise from the floor, I get an idea. The blades leap towards me, and I toss my knife. The blade on the left easily avoids it, just like I expected. My knife hits its true target: the space between the floor and the rising platform. It jams and prevents the platform from locking into place. I dive between the blades, pressing my entire weight against the platform. It gives way under the pressure.

“Eat my a-aaagh!” My victorious exclamation is cut short when I realize _oh shit, I’m falling_. Fortunately, I only fall about three meters, and I manage to roll out of the fall. Pain radiates through my arm, and I stare down at it.

“Adam,” a familiar voice says, and I look up.

“Keith?” Sure enough, the violet-eyed teen who stands before me is the same Keith that I left on Earth. He looks exactly the same as when I last saw him; he’s the same height, his hair is the same, he’s still wearing the red jacket Takashi bought for him. And yet, there’s a coldness in his eyes that I’ve only seen when he looks at someone he despises. I stand and start to walk towards him. “Keith,” I repeat, “how did you—“

“How could you?!” The anger in his voice catches me off guard.

“Wha-“

“You left me,” he says, voice cracking, “when I needed you most. And you didn’t even say goodbye.”

I feel a sense of dread in the pit of my stomach. “Keith,” I say again, pleading. “I tried to stay. Sanda wouldn’t let me resign as pilot, not after she leaked that Takashi and I were engaged. She— she said that if I resigned, she’d file a lawsuit against me and remove you from my custody, and she’d get us both kicked out of the Garrison. You’d be put back in foster care, and I’d lose my job. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“You abandoned me,” Keith says, and his eyes narrow. “You’ve become just like your father.”

And there it is— that fear I’ve subconsciously carried with me for most of my life. It’s the reason I didn’t want to leave my mom to go to the Garrison when I was thirteen, why I didn’t want to go on the mission, and why I regret what I said to Takashi so much: I don’t want to be like my dad. After years of mental and emotional abuse from him, my mom and I woke up one morning to find him gone. He left a note saying he’d gone to pursue a better life with some woman he met during one of his (very frequent) bar-hopping nights, and he never came back. I was ten years old.

“No,” I whisper, and sink to my knees. I hear him approaching me and I gaze upwards into his eyes. The whites of his eyes have turned yellow.

“You deserve everything that’s happened to you,” he snarls, and his now claw-like fingers rip through the arm of my suit, digging into the wound beneath. My head jerks backwards and I scream in pain, but something in me snaps.

“No,” I repeat, louder, and make eye contact with him. But I’m not looking at Keith anymore— no, it’s my father, standing where Keith was.

“What did you just say, boy?” I smell the whiskey on his breath. Infuriated, I tear my arm out of his grasp, and I stand.

“I said no,” I reply, voice shaking with anger. “I don’t deserve what’s happened to me. I am a good person. And I,” I pause for a moment, then yell, “AM NOTHING LIKE YOU!”

My fist flies at him, but at my touch, he dissolves into smoke. A door appears on the opposite side of the room.

“Some fucking trial,” I grumble, clutching my arm. But after saying that out loud, I feel... different. It’s strange, but it’s a good type of different. But I can’t reflect much on it now— I have a trial to complete.

Tiredly, I stumble through the door into the next room. I notice someone standing with his back to me, and I freeze in my tracks. It may have been a year, but I’d recognize that fine ass anywhere.

“T- Takashi?” The figure turns, and those dark brown eyes I’ve missed so much meet mine.

“Adam,” he sobs, and runs towards me. I sprint towards him, and we collide in a tangled mess of limbs. I can feel his warmth pressing against me, and I wrap my arms tightly around him, half afraid that he’s going to turn to smoke at my touch.

“I— I thought I l— lost you,” I choke out through my tears. He pulls away and gives me a teary-eyed smiled, then wipes my tears away with his hand.

“Adam,” he murmurs. _God_ , how I’ve missed the sound of his voice! I press his hand against my cheek and close my eyes. “Let’s go home, baby.”

“Wh- what?”

“Come on, let’s go home. You’ve suffered so much— why get involved in this intergalactic war? This isn’t our problem.” I pull away from him and stare. This isn’t the Takashi I know and love. My Takashi would be urging me to stay and fight, along with him. He and I are very similar in that way— we both would prefer to risk our lives in order to save others.

“I- I can’t. I’m sorry, Takashi, but I can’t just go home and pretend that nothing’s happening out here in space. I want to go home with you one day, but I need to help these people,” I say, sadly. He looks at me and sighs.

“I know that Kerberos couldn’t have been pilot error. I’m not sure what happened to you— or even if you’re alive— but I swear to you, I’ll find out.”

We stand, and I gaze into his sad eyes. I hold his hands and say, “Goodbye, Takashi.” I turn my head as he dissolves into smoke, feeling the weight of his hands in mine fade away. Another door appears, but before I pass through, I whisper, “I’ll find you, baby. I promise.”

I’m still looking back into that room as I walk into the next, and my mind is so scrambled that I don’t recognize the room I’m in, though I’ve seen it so many times, both in reality and in my nightmares. The door seals itself behind me, and with a jolt, I realize where I am. The dimly lit purple walls with all the claw marks on them, the operating table, and the surgical tools are all exactly the same as I remember. Even the cloaked figure is there, hovering at the opposite end of the operating table. I leap back in horror.

“So,” Haggar says in an icy tone, “you escaped. But you’re back now. Tell me, what did you learn about the Blade of Marmora?” My shocked silence seems to irritate her, and she zaps me with her purple lightning. Screaming in agony, I collapse to the ground.

“Tell me,” she commands again, “and the pain will stop.” Again, as if she’s trying to make her point even clearer, she summons the lightning, and I writhe on the floor. My vision is fuzzy, and I know I can’t take much more of this. I know I can’t escape this room (believe me, I’ve tried), but I also know I can’t tell her about the Blade. I look down at my knife, and I know what I have to do.

“Takashi, Keith— I’m sorry,” I say, and I pull my blade up to my throat. But before I can do anything else, the entire blade lights up purple. I watch, transfixed, as it turns into a giant battleaxe. I look around, and I realize Haggar is gone, the experimentation room is gone, and I’m back in the room where I started.

“Congratulations,” Kolivan says. “You have passed.”

“Gnarly,” I say, and I weakly make finger guns at him. Then my vision goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’know, I didn’t really want to include the part with Adam’s dad, because I don’t like giving attention to the abusers. However, I wanted to make Adam a character that overcomes abuse and, while he can’t forget what happened, he can move on. I wrote this chapter with my own personal experience in mind, in hopes that one day, I can be like Adam. 
> 
> Again, thank you all so so SO SO MUCH for reading!!!!!! I appreciate all of your comments and kudos and they mean a lot to me!!!
> 
> The next chapter is going to be different from all the others so far, so prepare yourself!
> 
> Also, if you have questions, want to see art I drew for my fics, or just want to hang out and talk, go check out my social media!! My twitter is @formtroyboltron, and my ig is @form.troy.boltron.
> 
> THANK YOU ALL I LOVE YOU


	4. A new perspective: Shiro

“Alright, paladins, that’s enough for today,” I say, feeling immensely satisfied with my team. After our food fight with the Alteans, we went to practice forming Voltron. We ran through a few training exercises with the giant robot, then practiced assembly and disassembly. But now, both of the stars Arus orbits have set, and I think it’s time to call it quits. We all head off to bed, exhausted from all the training exercises Allura put us through.

But despite my exhaustion, I can’t fall asleep. My mind is racing as I remember bits and pieces of my imprisonment. I try to make something cohesive out of these flashes I have, but each time a new one comes along, whatever flimsy narrative I’ve constructed collapses into nothing, and I have to start all over.

After two hours of tossing and turning, I hear a knock at my door. “Come in,” I say, slightly surprised. I relax a bit when Keith walks through the door and sits on the side of my bed. I chuckle and tease, “I thought you said you’d be out as soon as your head touched your pillow, what gives?” He gives a clearly forced laugh in response, but then he frowns, not meeting my eyes. “Keith,” I say, using a softer tone. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s been something I’ve been meaning to tell you these past couple of weeks,” he replies somberly. “I would have told you when we were on Earth, but I wanted to wait until the right time. Now that we’re out here, though, I don’t know if there will ever be a ‘right time’ to tell you.” Keith sighs, taking a deep breath, and I notice tears in his eyes. He makes eye contact with me and says, “Adam... is gone.”

“Wh-what?” I hear myself stammer. At those words, my heart has sunk to my feet, and I feel like I can’t breathe. “Keith,” I say, letting out a small, crazed-sounding chuckle, “that’s not a very funny joke.” It can’t be true. Keith must be joking. Adam just can’t be gone. How could he be, when he’s so alive in my memory? Even now, I can see him, his tan skin illuminated by the setting sun, eyes alight behind those cute glasses I always teased him for, shooting that beautiful grin at me. Someone so full of life in my mind can’t just be dead, right? I look at Keith pleadingly, begging for him to be joking with my eyes. He looks back at the floor.

“In the first month of your flight to Kerberos, Adam was selected to pilot a mission to Charon. It was scheduled for three years after your mission. But after the Kerberos mission failed, the mission was pushed up, and Adam left about three weeks after you were pronounced dead. The mission went fine, up until they reached Saturn. They disappeared behind it, and were never heard from again. A week later, they found what was left of the ship, stuck in orbit around Saturn. Cassini III* took pictures of it. Shiro, the ship was—“ his voice cracks, and tears start to spill from his eyes. “The ship was ripped in half by something. It looked like there had been an explosion onboard. There’s no way anyone could have survived that kind of explosion.”

Numbly, I lie back down. I can feel my own tears flowing, but everything feels surreal, as if this is all just a bad dream. Keith stays with me through the night, crying on my shoulder but eventually, he falls asleep. But I stare up at the ceiling, with only one thought running through my mind: _I should have been the one who died first._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HA- I bet you weren’t expecting a narration change! (well, unless you’re one of the people I told)
> 
> So, here you can see where Shiro and the paladins are in their space journey. I thought I should probably explain when this part of the fic is set within the canon timeline, and what better way to do that than having Shiro find out about Adam’s “death”?!
> 
> All chapters will be narrated by Adam unless otherwise noted in the chapter title from this point on. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> *: named after the Cassini probe, which orbited Saturn from July 2004 to September 2017


	5. Getting educated

I wake up disoriented and confused, not knowing where I am. Bolting upright, I scan my surroundings, and everything starts to come back to me. I glance down at my arm, and I’m surprised to see that my wound is fully healed, with only a pink scar remaining. I stand and realize I’m still wearing the trial suit (thankfully. I’m glad that none of the Galra decided to strip me and redress me while I was passed out. That would’ve been a very awkward situation that I’d really rather not deal with.) There’s a pile of clothes at the end of my bed, and I realize that it’s my uniform.

After I change, I stare at the dresser on which my knife rests. Hesitantly, I pick it up, and I feel it come alive in my hand. Its energy pulses through me, and I feel it impart its knowledge to me. I know that sounds like total bs, but that’s really the only way to explain what I’m experiencing. The blade isn’t speaking to me in words or even showing me images, and yet it feeds me information that I have no logical way of knowing. So much information flows into my mind that I can hardly process it all.

In summary, what I’ve learned is this: the Blade of Marmora is a secretive group of Galra rebels who’ve been working for thousands of years to kill Zarkon’s empire from within. They were formed when the Galra realized Zarkon’s rule would not bring peace to the universe— only more violence would come. Each member has a unique blade made of luxite, a rare metal which possesses the ability to connect with one’s life force. However, not just anyone can connect with a blade; the blade has to choose you as its wielder. But the connection with the blade is temporary unless you prove yourself worthy through the trials of Marmora and awaken the blade.

Allegedly, once you awaken the blade for the first time, it’ll change shape between the knife and whatever shape it takes when awakened at your will. I decide to test this, and just like that, the knife morphs into the axe I saw at the end of my trial. It’s about a meter long, and the head is wickedly sharp. It’s pretty damn heavy, but not too heavy for me to hold for an extended period of time. I notice a switch on the hilt that’s in the middle of its range of motion, and I push it away from me with my thumb. Part of the axe flips up and out, changing my axe into a giant sword. I push the switch all the way back towards me, and the blade folds in on itself.

“Rad,” I say, marveling at the craftsmanship of the weapon. I admit, I was kind of worried about joining the space CIA and becoming a secret agent with only a robotic leg, a laser-shooting eye, and a knife. I felt like I was (figuratively and literally) bringing a knife to a gun fight. But with this thing, I feel like I can really do some damage.

There’s a large black bag hanging on the door with a note attached, and I slide my folded weapon into it. It’s a perfect fit. I read the print attached to the bag (how does Ulaz know English?) The note is from Ulaz, and it says he’s waiting for me in the lounge with our mission assignment. I pull the strap so that it goes over my left shoulder and across my chest, then head to the lounge to find Ulaz.

But before I can get there, I bump into Antok, who informs me that Kolivan requested my presence. I follow him into a secluded corner of the base into a control room, trying not to remember that the last time I saw him, I did finger guns at him and then instantly passed out. In fact, I’m so focused on trying to look dignified that I trip and stumble on the doorstep on the way in. _Great job looking dignified, Adam. Stellar performance._

“Kolivan,” I say, trying to maintain what little poise I have left. “You rang?”

“I need to talk to you about your trial.”

 _Uh oh_. My mind starts to race with possibilities of what he’s going to say next. _Is he going to tell me that I was clever for how I escaped, or will he tell me I cheated then decapitate me with my own blade? What if he tries to talk to me about my dad? Oh god, what if he tries to get me to unpack a ton of emotional baggage!_

“I misjudged you when Ulaz brought you here. Haggar has tried to infiltrate our ranks many times by sending supposedly escaped prisoners, and I believed you were her latest spy. When Ulaz explained that the blade connected with you, I thought he was mistaken. And so I sent you into the trials, fully expecting you to perish.”

_Gee, thanks, Kolivan. I’m blushing at your high praise._

“But in the final two stages of your trial, you surprised me. I see now that you have the will to fight against the Empire, which stands strong even in the face of great temptation. Your willpower was so strong that, when confronted by Haggar, you would rather die than disclose information about the Blade of Marmora. I doubt the ability of some senior members to be so disciplined, yet you were willing before we had even accepted you as one of our own.”

“Anyone who’s an enemy of the Empire is a friend of mine,” I say. He extends his hand to me, and I take it. We exchange a stiff, formal handshake (or at least, the Galra equivalent of a handshake. Luckily for me, my blade gave me an understanding of Galra customs and culture, so I knew how to do the handshake, and didn’t make even more of a fool of myself by trying to high five him. Yay, knowledge!)

“You have my trust, Adam,” Kolivan says, then indicates that I’m dismissed. _This day just keeps getting better and better_!

I exit the control room, but Antok isn’t waiting by the door for me. Not knowing where I am, I wander around the halls, hoping that I’ll eventually find my way back to my quarters. It’s not like the blades are being cold to me— in fact, as I wander, several of the blades I encounter don’t have their masks on, and they stop to congratulate me. I just don’t want to humiliate myself by admitting that I’m lost on the first day. I try to walk with a sense of purpose to make it look like I know where I’m going. I end up bumping into someone, and I’m glad when I recognize him.

“Thace,” I say, relieved. “It’s a small base after all, huh?”

“I heard from several sources you were lost, so I came to find you.” A twitch of amusement crosses his face.

Oh. So I guess they _could_ tell I was lost.

“Ulaz has been looking for you,” he continues, gesturing for me to follow. He guides me back to main section of the base— the one Ulaz gave me a tour of. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to navigate this place by myself, and I start to feel very small and insignificant.

Finally, Thace and I reach the lounge, where Ulaz is sitting on a couch. “It’s about time,” he grumbles, not turning around to look at us. “Where was he, Thace?”

“Wandering around, lost in sector eight.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault I got lost,” I protest. “Antok said Kolivan wanted to see me, so I followed him, but when I left, Antok wasn’t there. And I wasn’t about to ask Kolivan for directions.”

Ulaz’s yellow eyes widen. “Kolivan asked for you? What did he say?”

“He said that he was wrong about me at first, and he said that I have a strong will and sense of discipline. Oh, he also said that I have his trust.” Ulaz’s eyes glow with a sense of pride, and he turns to Thace triumphantly.

“See? I told you he was something special! You always doubt my instincts, but when have they ever been wrong?”

“Let’s see,” replies Thace, smirking a bit. “How about the time you almost got us both captured because you insisted that there was another balmeran crystal in the cargo ship we raided?”

“That was one time!”

“Or when you went off on your own to raid a nearby pirate ship, despite Kolivan’s orders, and I had to come save you?”

“That’s different! They stole most of our luxite supply, and I—“ Thace glares at Ulaz, and Ulaz coughs, correcting himself, “we recovered it!”

“After we almost got blown up, mind you. And if I recall correctly, the ship blew up because you thought it would be a good idea to combine—“

“Alright, alright, you win,” Ulaz says exasperatedly, then crosses his arms and pouts. Watching this whole exchange gives me a new perspective of the blades, and I realize maybe not everything here is as solemn as I first thought. I look around and see a couple of blades holding back laughter as they watch Ulaz and Thace, and I meet their eyes. I roll my eyes and shrug towards the bickering Galra, and they laugh. Hearing this, Ulaz glares over at them and says “Oh, what, is the entire base trying to humiliate me in front of my new apprentice?” He sighs dramatically, and one of the blades across the room chimes in.

“We’re just trying to keep your head on your shoulders, Ulaz,” she teases. “Ever since you rescued that first human, you’ve become quite prideful.”

I’m shocked by her words and their implications, but I dare not get my hopes up. Breathlessly, I ask, “What did you just say?”

“You don’t know? I’m shocked Ulaz hasn’t told you yet,” she replies, then looks over at him.

Glaring daggers at the other blades, Ulaz mutters something I can’t quite hear to them, but I can tell it’s not complimentary. He then turns back to me and says, “I wanted to tell you this after your trial, but you fell unconscious. You called him by a different name, but the man you encountered in the third phase of your trial was Shiro, correct?” Unable to speak, I nod at him, trying to slow my quickening heart rate. There’s no way Ulaz could possibly know that nickname, unless…

“I met him while he was a prisoner on Haggar’s ship. He was her original champion.”

“The- the one that escaped,” I hear myself stammer, and Ulaz nods. “Did you…”

“I set him free and sent him back to Earth in an escape pod, hoping he could rally his people to find the blue lion. And my gamble has more than paid off. There have been reports that Voltron has been sighted on Arus, and it has crashed Sendak’s ship.” This makes the other blades gasp, and they whisper to each other excitedly. I don’t know what Eros or Voltron is (and apparently, neither does my knife), but I have the displeasure of knowing the name Sendak. He’s a big scary Galra dude who has a lot of power and authority, as well as a lot of ear hair. Whenever I would see him in the lab (because he signed up for being experimented on, willingly), I’d always wonder how he could hear. He’s a pretty big deal among the Galra, and the fact that this Voltron managed to knock him out of the sky is pretty impressive to me. But I have something more important to worry about.

“Did Tak- I mean, Shiro- did he seem sick, or weaker than the others, to you? He had some issues with his right arm,” I explain.

“He did have some issues early on with his arm, enough so that Haggar saw to its removal and replacement.”

Holy shit! They took off his whole entire arm?! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering what happened to my leg when it was injured, but damn. “Oh Takashi,” I whisper aloud, feeling myself start to tear up, “what did they do to you?”

Putting his hand on my shoulder reassuringly, Ulaz says, “He is safe now. There were no indications that he was ill when I sent him to Earth, and the fact that they found the blue lion indicates that he made it to Earth safely. Perhaps he even became a paladin of Voltron.”

“That sounds like him,” I say, letting out a small laugh. “As soon as he gets rescued, he goes right back into the fray, fighting against evil. That dumbass.” I look at Ulaz, and the reality of what he’s done sinks in. Unable to hold my tears back any longer, I surge forwards and wrap my arms around him, letting out a sob. He stiffens at first, but then awkwardly puts his arms around my shoulders. “Thank you,” I repeat over and over. “Thank you, thank you so so so much. There’s no way I can ever repay you for what you’ve done. Thank you.”

“There, there,” he says uncertainly and pats my head. I laugh a little and let go of him, and I step back, wiping my eyes.

“I promise I’m not always this emotional,” I say as my tears start to dry. “Actually, I think the last time I cried was the first night of my imprisonment. I guess I’ve just been bottling everything up since then, and hearing about Takashi brought all my emotions to the surface.”

“It is alright, child,” Thace says reassuringly, but Ulaz scoffs at him.

“There is no reason to call my apprentice a child. He is young, for sure, but he is no child.” Turning back to me, he says, “You cannot be younger than two hundred fifty deca-phoebs, correct?” Thanks to my knife, I understand that a deca-phoeb is equivalent to a year. But before I can reply, Thace cuts in.

“Nonsense,” he says. “He has to be over one hundred fifty, but not by much. How old are you?”

“I’m, uh, twenty-four,” I say, and Ulaz looks at Thace triumphantly.

“See? I was closer. It is rather odd that he is measuring time in decades, but-“

“No,” I interrupt, and they both look back at me. “I was born twenty-four deca-phoebs ago.” Their jaws drop.

In unison, they say, “What?!” They rush over to me and examine every centimeter of me. Ulaz picks me up by the ankles and examines my feet, as if he’s going to find some sort of answer there. Meanwhile, Thace kneels down and pinches my cheeks, looking into my eyes.

“Ulaz, you moron, you’ve stolen an infant!”

“Shut your mouth, Thace, he must be joking!”

I try to say “Put me down” but all that comes out is an unintelligible mess of sound. Thace notices this and says, “Ulaz, you’re distressing him! Look, he’s speaking gibberish and his face is turning red! Release him!” Ulaz lets go of me, but Thace puts his hands under my head before it hits the ground and (too late) hisses, “Gently!”

Thanks to Thace, I don’t hit my head, but the rest of my body is not so lucky. I fall flat on my back and mumble, “Ow.”

“Ulaz!” The blade winces at Thace’s sharp shout, and he looks apologetically at me. He offers me his hand and I take it, wincing a bit as he pulls me upwards. “You could have seriously injured the boy!”

“Oh for god’s sake,” I snap irritably, “I’m not a child! My species has a shorter life span than you, so we mature faster!” They look at each other, then back at me. “I’d be considered a young adult on my planet. Now, don’t we have a mission to go on or something?”

“Yes,” Ulaz says, still looking at me funny. I cross my arms and raise my eyebrows at him, as if to say, well? “The three of us are going to Arus to investigate the wreckage of Sendak’s ship. The crash provides us with a unique opportunity to infiltrate an abandoned Galra ship which still has relevant information stored in it. It will also give us a chance to investigate the rumors about Voltron. Our ship is loaded with the supplies we’ll need— are you ready to depart?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” I reply. “Can I eat on the way there?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, so Adam is going to ARUS for his first mission, huh? I wonder what he’ll find there!
> 
> It might seem weird that the blades are joking around with each other, but I like to imagine that the BOM has its own sort of culture, and it’s not always as serious as it seems. 
> 
> THANK YOU ALL FOR READING OMG


	6. Bonding time

The week-long journey to Arus has been relatively uneventful. Our ship has been on auto-pilot most of the time, but when we’ve encountered an asteroid belt or any other particularly turbulent area of space, the three of us have taken turns navigating. Thace was thoughtful enough to bring along some Galra playing cards for the trip, and he and Ulaz have taught me some Galra card games. In return, I’ve taught them some Earth card games, their favorite of which being poker. They’re playing poker right now as I sit at the controls, making modifications to my suit. I’ve been working on something the past couple of days, and I think it’s finally come together.

I slide my suit on over the casual Galra clothes I have on. “Hey, check this out,” I say excitedly, and my two companions look up from the poker hand Ulaz is clearly winning. My mask forms around my face, and I push a button I installed on the right wrist of the suit. Grinning, I watch as my body disappears into thin air.

“Adam?” Concerned, Ulaz looks around for me.

“Don’t worry! I’m still right here,” I reassure him, “but it sure looks like I’m not, right? I programmed the microsensors in my suit to constantly scan the light levels around me in all directions and then change in color based on the readings they collect. Pretty nifty, right?” Ulaz nods, looking impressed, and Thace smiles. I turn off invisibility and demask, and shoot them a thumbs-up. “Now I can disappear, just like my dad,” I joke, and make finger guns at the two Galra.

Unfortunately, Ulaz and Thace don’t appreciate just how good of a joke that was. “Adam,” Thace says, standing, “we have been meaning to talk to you about part of your trial. That man who appeared in the second phase of your trial— was that your father? And who was that boy?”

I sigh, knowing they won’t leave me alone until I give them some answers. “The boy’s name is Keith, and he was like my adopted little brother back on Earth. Takashi and I helped raise him, but Takashi had a much closer bond with him than I. But when Takashi disappeared, Keith and I only had each other to lean on, but I was forced to go on a mission to Kerberos a couple of weeks after he was pronounced dead.

“I guess I’ve always felt guilty about that since. I was always afraid of being like my dad and leaving my family when they most needed me.” I explain to them about how my father walked out when I was ten as well as how he’d treated my mom and I before that. I tell them that I wouldn’t be the man I am today without my mom.

“One day, when the war is over, I would like for you to take me to your planet so I can meet her,” Ulaz says softly.

“I’m afraid you’re too late. She died six years ago of cancer, an Earth disease.”

“But surely she came back for you?” I look at Ulaz, convinced that this is a trick question. “In her new form, I mean,” Ulaz adds, which doesn’t make it any less confusing of a question for me.

“Death is seen differently in your culture than in ours,” Thace explains. “A few deca-phoebs ago, I had the experience of working with a fellow blade named Krolia. She had been stranded on Earth and learnt of your culture.” I’m shocked that a literal alien was stranded on Earth, presumably for months at least, and no one knew about it. Maybe Area 51 is real, after all. But before I can ask about her, Thace continues. “You humans generally believe in an eternal life in another realm, correct? And that there is a different place in the ‘afterlife’ for the good and evil?” I nod.

“We believe in something called the Great Beyond, or called by some, the Astral Plane. When someone loses their life, they enter the Great Beyond and wait to be reborn into their next life. This next life typically takes the form of an animal which cannot speak but retains the memory of its former life. That animal is sent to protect the ones they loved in their previous life. Then, when the animal dies, the cycle starts again when their soul is reborn within an intelligent creature and they lose their memory. For example, four deca-phoebs after my father passed on, I was on my first mission. I was about to be captured, but right before my eyes, an asteroid fell from the sky and landed at my feet. It spawned a purple wolf, which immediately stood next to me and concealed us from view. The wolf was my companion for a long while, and I firmly believe it was my father’s spirit. Ulaz is asking if you experienced this.”

“Oh, um, I don’t think so,” I start to say, then hesitate. “Well, there was an injured kitten that I found in the road soon after she died. Her right leg was injured, which is kinda ironic because that’s where my mom’s cancer started. I took her to the vet and they had to amputate her leg. I helped that cat recover from the surgery and learn how to walk on three legs, while she helped me cope with my grief. Having her to take care of gave me a sense of purpose that I’d lost. I guess... maybe that could have been my mom?” It’s a weird thought, for sure, but it’s somewhat comforting.

“She raised you well,” Ulaz murmurs, and Thace nods in agreement.

“Even better than we could have,” Thace adds.

“Huh? What do you mean?” I ask curiously. Thace and Ulaz look at each other, and I remember a sneaking suspicion I’ve harbored since I saw the pair in the lounge. In my (admittedly limited) experience, people don’t talk about how they could raise a kid, unless...

“Despite what Kolivan advises, Ulaz and I are in a romantic relationship, and have been for over two hundred deca-phoebs.”

Two thoughts come to mind, one being, _I knew it_! The other is the realization that _huh, gays really do travel in packs_.

“We have always wanted to settle down and be conjoined.” (Conjoining is the galra equivalent of marriage. It’s not literal conjoining, as we humans use the word.) “We have even hoped that one day we can start a family and adopt a child. But, of course, we have a war to win before we can pursue our own happiness,” Thace says with a sigh. Ulaz puts a hand on his shoulder.

“We have each other, Thace,” Ulaz reminds him. We’re all silent for a moment, but then the control panel beeps. I walk over and see the planet Arus filling the cockpit window.

“It looks like we’re here,” I say. “I’ll bring us in for landing. You two should probably suit up.” The two Galra start to walk out of the cockpit to their rooms, but I add, “And guys?”

They look back at me, and I smile. “Thank you.” I turn back to the controls without another word, steering us into the planet’s atmosphere, and I can’t help but smile to myself as I do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hooo boy, it's been like three days since I last updated, sorry about that! I have college apps due, I'm taking the SAT, I have stage crew, and I have all of my classwork still! I'll try to get back to daily updates in November, sorry!
> 
> YEAH ULAZ AND THACE ARE CANON GAYS WHATCHA GONNA DO ABOUT IT
> 
> the next chapter will have some action in it, I promise!
> 
> thank you for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	7. Arus

Traveling to an Earth-like planet outside of the solar system was something nobody thought humanity could accomplish in my lifetime, and yet, here I am, flying an alien ship into the atmosphere of Arus. From up here, Arus looks how I imagine Earth would have looked tens of thousands of years ago— you know, before humans came along and ruined everything. As the fireball from our ship’s atmospheric entry fades away, I scan the planet’s surface.

Right away, I spot an anomaly among the pleasant green mountains and glimmering blue lakes. In the middle of a relatively flat area, I spot a huge circular depression in the earth. Inside of it, I can see something big, purple, and metal. But it’s not exactly what I’m expecting.

“Isn’t that thing a little small for a Galra cruiser?” I point in front of me, indicating the purple lump lying in the crater. Ulaz looks out at it and frowns.

“Yes,” he says, clearly troubled. Whatever that thing is, he clearly thinks it’s not good. “Drop Thace and I over the crater, we’ll examine it on foot. Keep searching for Sendak’s ship from the air. If you cannot find it, land the ship in a safe location. Its coordinates will be downloaded to our suits automatically.” I steer the craft over the drop site, and he says, “Good luck, Adam. Keep your guard up.”

With that, Ulaz and Thace jump from the cargo hold, and I’m alone on the ship. I notice an ocean nearby, but it’s the anomaly I spot near the ocean that drives me to examine it. There’s an enormous mound of earth that looks like it could have been a mountain. But this mountain looks likes it’s collapsed in on itself, as if something massive was suddenly removed from the center of it. Upon closer inspection, I notice white, clearly artificial bridges which seem to have connected to the mound, but are now snapped in half.

Sure, it’s not obviously Galra like the thing in the crater, but something like this still warrants investigation, so I land in a clearing of a nearby forest. I glide over to the edge of a forest and park the ship, hoping the trees will conceal it from anyone who might be looking.

As I travel to the mound, I take the chance to practice using the jetpack on my suit. Amazingly enough, I can turn it on and off with my mind as well as control the amount of thrust. I get the hang of steering pretty quickly, and soon I’m doing flips and tricks in the air. In almost no time, I reach my destination.

“Adam,” Thace’s voice says through my suit, “can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Thace,” I reply cheerfully. “I think I’m getting a hang of this jetpack thing! How’s everything going in the crater?”

“Better than I had expected,” Ulaz says. “We found some native Arusians, and they told us of an invasion from Sendak. Voltron was able to destroy Sendak’s ship, but the wreckage was destroyed by some sort of cosmic gladiator crashing into the planet’s surface. What you observed from the plane was its vessel.” I hear a branch snap behind me and turn to examine it, but I don’t see anything.

“Neat. Did they say anything about this weird mound nearby here? There’s all of these white bridges here that lead to it, but they’re broken.”

“Is it by an ocean, on the same landmass as the crater?”

Surprised by the sudden worry in Ulaz’s voice, I respond, “Yeah, I’m right in front of it. Why?” I start to get the feeling that something’s watching me, and I back up towards the mountain.

“Adam, get out of there, _now_!” But Ulaz’s command comes too late. Before I can do anything, Galra sentries emerge from the woods and surround me. I’m forced to demask, and in doing so I lose all communication with the other blades. A Galra commander steps out from the woods behind the sentries, grinning smugly. Unfortunately, I recognize him.

“ _Turd_?!” Yes, standing before me is the same guard who tormented me in Galra prison, who I last saw unconscious on the floor of my cell.

“For the last time,” he yells in annoyance, “It’s THROG! And that’s Commander Throg to you!” _Commander, huh_? Haggar must’ve been short on capable Galra for _him_ to get that title. “Now, surrender!” I slowly step backwards, trying desperately to stall. Throg’s troops advance forward as I walk back. “I said, surrender,” he growls impatiently. I look up at the mound and get a crazy idea, but before I can do anything, something happens to the ground beneath me. A purple circle lights up in the grass surrounding me, and I realize I’m at the center.

Then the circle opens up and I’m falling, I’m tumbling through the air uncontrollably, I can hear Throg yelling and his troops are firing at me as I fall, but I take the opportunity to warm up my Galra eye. I’ve never tried something like this, but I sure hope it works because I’m out of options. Staring up at the mountain, I activate my eye and it shoots a concentrated beam where I’m looking. When the laser hits the middle of the mountain, it causes a large explosion. As I fall, I see the top of the mound start to slide downwards, but then circle closes again and I fall into a large pool of water.

I surface, gasping for air, and swim to the shore of the underground pond. The ground above my head trembles, but it holds strong, assumably under the weight of the mound. It seems like my landslide plan worked, and I scoff up at the roof.

“Betcha didn’t watch Mulan in the Galra empire, huh? Take that, Turd!” Takashi and Keith would always complain about me watching Disney movies that were made long before I was born. I’ll have to rub it in their faces that Mulan just saved my life when I see them again.

If _I ever see them again_ , a small part of me thinks.

_Shut up, Adam_ , I think back to myself. _Right now, you just have to focus on getting out of this cave_. I stare back up at the hole (which actually looks like a door from beneath), but it’s sealed tight. It’s also probably covered by a thousand tons of earth now, so I’m going to have to find another way out.

Since I can’t seem to get a signal with my suit to contact Ulaz or Thace, my best bet seems to be following the path of the cave in front of me, so I start to walk through the passage. It’s not long before I reach a dead end. Groaning, I knock on the wall, trying to see if it’s hollow.

But as soon as my hand touches the wall, a carving that I hadn’t noticed in the dark lights up purple. The light travels through the rock of the cave and I see several more carvings light up, and another purple circle is under my feet. “Not again,” I groan, and the ground gives way beneath me.

I don’t fall nearly as far this time, thankfully. I’m able to land on my feet, and when I look around, I’m in a large chamber that’s completely empty. There’s another purple circle on the floor that’s significantly larger and more elaborately carved than the other two I fell through.

“Nope, I’m not doing that shit again,” I grumble, sitting down on the outside of the circle. Hesitantly, I place my hands against the purple light circle’s circumference.

Suddenly, I’m not kneeling in the cavern anymore. I sit in the middle of a field of stars, and I see a giant ship in front of me. But I can tell this is no ordinary ship: it’s a lion. It must be one of those Voltron lions I heard the blades talking about. As I revel at its sheer size and impressive engineering, it starts to move. It lowers is head to the ground and extends its massive snout towards me. I touch it and close my eyes, feeling the lion’s energy pulsing within the cool metal. She tells me that she needs my help, and to open my eyes.

When I open them again, I’m inside of the lion’s cockpit. Instead of the purple starry void, I can see a Galra power plant on a rocky planet outside of the lion. About a meter in front of me, I can see the occupied pilot’s seat. Somehow (I think because of the lion), I know exactly who is sitting there even before he speaks.

That oh-so-familiar voice muses, “How do I take this thing down?”

“Takashi!” The pilot jumps, and looks wildly around the cockpit. I realize he was probably asking a rhetorical question, since no one else was in the cockpit with him a moment ago. I notice a large scar across his nose as his brown eyes meet mine.

“A- Adam? But... But you’re- Agh!” Because of Takashi’s focus on me, a laser beam hits the lion, and it tumbles through the air. The cockpit blinks out of existence for a moment, and I’m kneeling in the cave for a split second, but then it reappears. I run over and grab the controls, very nearly dodging another laser. “Wha- The black lion is letting you-“

“Shut up and focus, Takashi!” He turns back to the controls, clearly rattled by my appearance. I can feel the lion struggling to hold the connection, so I get to the point.

“The lion’s trying to tell you something, Takashi. I’m not sure what, but it called for my assistance. I know how hard it is for you to accept help from others, but please, listen to what she’s telling you.” I take his hand, and he flinches, as if he wasn’t expecting it to be real. I move our hands onto the control board, and suddenly, an icon pops up on the screen.

“What’s that? ‘Jaw Blade,’” he reads aloud, raising his eyebrows. I groan.

“Takashi, what do you _think_ it is?! How much more self-explanatory of a name do you need?” He stares up at me, looking even more shocked than when he first saw me.

“Wait... you’re— are you _my_ Adam? This isn’t just a mirage created by the lion?”

“Really? You only think I’m real after I make a snarky comment?” I shake my head, frustrated, and the connection cuts out again. “Just activate the goddamn jaw blade already!”

He smiles at me with that special grin he does just for me, as if I’m the only thing that matters in the world, and my stupid heart flutters in my chest. “It really is you,” he whispers in awe. Then he turns back to the controls and yells, “Okay! Let’s do this!” Finally, he forms the blade and tears through the side of the power plant.

I try to turn back to him and cheer, but suddenly, the black lion’s gone, and I’m sitting alone in the cave again. All the light from the carvings have faded, and I can’t communicate with the black lion anymore. I lean back and whisper, “Wait for me, Takashi.”

~ ~ ~

After about two and a half vargas of crawling through a tiny air vent I found in the cave, I finally reach the surface of Arus. I plop down on the grass and roll over onto my back, panting in exhaustion. The planet’s large moon shines above me, illuminating my surroundings.

After a moment of recovery, I look to my left, where the mound should be. Instead, I see a much flatter area of land than I was expecting. I notice two figures digging through the rubble, and quickly reach for the button on my wrist. As soon as I vanish completely, I stand and slowly approach the duo.

“We checked this area already,” one of them says, and I recognize the voice. It’s Thace! But what’s he looking for?

Before I can ask, the other guy, who I can tell is Ulaz, snaps, “I am not giving up!” He starts to pull up rocks and rubble with a renewed vigor.

“I was not suggesting that! I simply believe we should cover new ground rather than searching the same patch over and over! He might be somewhere else, buried in the ground, slowly suffocating to death as we, his only hope, dig through the same patches we’ve been looking through for the past three vargas!”

“Wait! Wait! I’m right here,” I call out. They both jump, and look around.

“Adam?!” I wave my arms and jump up and down, but Ulaz calls out again. “Adam, where are you?”

“Over heeere!” I shoot into the air with my jetpack to try and make myself more visible, but they still can’t see me. “Can’t you see m—“ _Oh_. Like a moron, I forgot that cloaking was still on. I tap the button on my wrist and reappear. Thace spots me first, and he sprints towards me, Ulaz hot on his heels. I land in front of them and say, “See? I’m okay!”

To my surprise, the two blades engulf me in a giant hug. “Oh, uh, sorry,” I mumble, not sure why they seem so relieved. “I probably made you guys think you were stranded here, huh? Well, don’t worry, the plane’s parked ov—“

“You fool, we were not thinking about being stranded! We were worried about you, Adam,” Ulaz says.

“Oh,” I reply stupidly, not sure how to react. After I collect my thoughts a bit, I ask, “Wait, but aren’t blades supposed to not get too connected to each other? Like, y’know, Kolivan’s whole mantra about how the mission comes first?”

“Of course the mission comes first,” Ulaz says, pulling out of the hug. He and Thace step back, and he crosses his arms. “But ever since you connected to that knife, I have had a new mission: to protect and care for you.”

“Adam,” Thace says, “You are like the son Ulaz and I never had.”

I blink and start to tear up a bit. “Well, it’s funny you say that,” I respond with a small laugh, “because on the way here, I was starting to feel like you guys were kinda like the cool, badass dads I never had.” I grin up at them and add, “So… are you guys, like, my space dads?”

“If you would like us to be. We would be honored to hold that title,” Ulaz says, smiling back at me.

“Personally, I prefer ‘the dads of Marmora,’” Thace replies. All three of us laugh, then Thace says, “Alright, we should return to the ship. We have a long journey back to the base, and we need to rest.” My aching body couldn’t agree more with this, so I show them back to the ship.

~ ~ ~

“So, yeah. That’s what happened,” I say. Before I could get some much needed sleep back on the ship, Thace and Ulaz grilled me about what had happened to me on Arus. We’ve been flying for about an hour, and I think they’re finally satisfied with the information I’ve given them.

“Adam, the lions of Voltron do not connect with merely anyone,” Thace says. He looks concerned. “Especially the black lion. Do you know who its original paladin was?” I shake my head, and bury my face in the pillow.

“Probably someone who’s been dead for an extraordinarily long time,” I mumble. I would probably inquire more on this subject if I wasn’t so tired, but I can feel myself drifting off. “’n we talk bout this another day?”

“Fine,” he mutters. “Just… be careful interacting with that lion, Adam.”

"Mhm," I mumble. Then I fall into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HKCBECVGEHJCKVES I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG
> 
> i've been pretty stressed lately and it's starting to take on some physical symptoms (the most unpleasant of which being vomiting through my nose.) But things are starting to calm down again, so I think I should be able to update quicker in the future!
> 
> The scene where Adam connected with the black lion is during s1 ep7! And speaking of that... so, Adam was able to connect with the black lion, huh? Interesting.............. ;;;;;;)));;;;;)));;;))))))))))););)
> 
> yeah, Thace and Ulaz just adopted Adam
> 
> THANKS FOR READING YEET


	8. The vision: Shiro

I pace back and forth outside of the black lion, waiting for it to recharge. It’s been about three hours since we successfully defeated the Robeast on the Balmera, and the lion’s been taking its sweet time to replenish itself.

Of course, it’s probably not taking any longer than normal, but I’m very anxious to get back in the cockpit because of something— no, someone— I saw during the battle. I’m exhausted from both the long battle and my recent lack of sleep, but I stay by the lion’s side. I need answers.

As if on cue, the lion’s eyes light up, and it kneels down and opens its mouth to let me inside. I take my place in the pilot’s seat and rest my hands against the lion’s thrusters. “Show him to me,” I say, closing my eyes.

Nothing. I try to extend myself into the black lion’s consciousness to search for him, but it feels like I’m hitting a wall. Impatiently, I try to push through the wall to no avail.

“I said, show him to me!” Angrily, I attempt to force the lion to let me in. But when I finally break through the metaphysical wall, it’s not my fiancé I see. Instead, I see Zarkon, sprinting towards me, sword in hand—

Gasping, I bolt upright. I’m lying on the floor of the black lion’s cockpit. I must’ve fallen asleep. There’s no way that could’ve been anything but a bad dream, right? Even still, I can’t help but feel there’s something more to the vision. I stand, feeling uneasy, and exit the lion. I know I should go to bed, but I don’t think I could sleep if I tried— not after that apparition.

I end up wandering around the halls of the castle aimlessly. until I find the other paladins in the lounge. When I enter the room, they all stop talking and stare up at me. “Am I interrupting something?”

After an awkward pause, Keith steps forward. “Shiro,” he says, “we’ve been worried about you. Ever since you took that power plant down, you’ve seemed... rattled. Did something happen?”

“Yeah, it was like you saw a ghost or something,” Hunk jokes innocently.

I rub my bionic wrist— an old habit I picked up back on earth— and mumble, “Well, uh... that’s exactly what happened. I’m not sure it happened, but somehow, the lion made my— er, old friend appear. He looked just like how I remember him, but he sounded... older. Sadder, too, as if he’d been through something terrible. He was only there for a fleeting moment, but he helped me activate the jaw blade.

“At first, I thought it was just a projection created by the black lion. But, he spoke with his own voice, and he acted like himself, not like the lion. And then, just for a moment, I was in a cave. It was like the one that we found the blue lion in, but the wall carvings glowed purple. Right in front of where the lion should have been, I saw a hooded figure in purple and black sitting at the edge of the circle on the floor, and I heard his voice, saying, ‘Wait for me, Takashi.’”

Keith inhales sharply, and says, “Adam?” I nod. Lance looks up at the name, but I’m not sure why.

“I was waiting for the black lion to recharge so I could try to find him again. But I couldn’t connect with it, for some reason— and when I tried to, I saw Zarkon running towards me with a sword that looked almost like... a Bayard. My Bayard. The next thing I knew, I was lying in the floor of the cockpit.”

“Shiro,” Pidge says, “how much sleep have you gotten in the past few days?” I stare at her incredulously, then look over at Keith for support. Instead, he has the same concerned look in his eyes.

“ _You don’t believe me_?!” My angry shout echoes through the lounge and the others flinch.

Lance stands and starts to say, “Shiro, I—“ but he’s interrupted by Pidge.

“Shiro, you most likely have PTSD from your time in Galra prison. That combined with your lack of sleep lately makes for a good chance that your mind is playing tricks on you.” Hunk and Keith nod in agreement, and I scoff.

Full of scorn, anger, and disappointment, I snap, “I know what I saw.” Then I turn on my heel and storm off, ignoring Keith’s pleas for me to stop.

~ ~ ~

I end up in the training room, where I spend the next hour hacking away at the practice bots. As I plunge my bionic arm deep into the final bot’s chest, a ding sounds from the system. A monotone voice says, “Training level seven cleared. Would you like to continue?”

“End training,” I reply, panting heavily. Leaning against the wall, I wipe my hand across my forehead and stare up at the ceiling.

Mainly, I feel betrayed. I’ve believed in everyone whenever they’ve said their Lion was telling them something. Hell, I believed Keith when he said the whole thing about the energy telling him to search in the desert, which started this whole mess. I’ve trusted the other paladins’ instincts about their lions, so why can’t they trust mine? I thought I’d at least have Keith on my side, if no one else.

I guess he has a point, though. A sleep-deprived twenty-six year old with severe mental trauma probably isn’t the most reliable source of information. I think back on what I saw and realize how ridiculous it seems. Adam being in the black lion’s cave would imply that he’s on Arus, which is impossible, even if he somehow survived the explosion on his ship. And how could the black lion have connected to him from so far away? Arus is lightyears away from where we are now. Also, according to Allura, lions only have one paladin, so there’s no way that Adam could have piloted Black like he did.

The second vision makes even less sense than the first. It’s entirely possible that Zarkon has the black Bayard, considering he has conquered most of the known universe and has had ten thousand years to search for it. But activating the black Bayard? He couldn’t possibly do that unless he was the original black paladin, and I know for a fact that he wasn’t. Allura’s father, Alfor, was the black paladin— Allura and Coran said so themselves. They have no reason to lie to me, so why shouldn’t I believe them?

And yet... Despite all logic and reason, I have a gut feeling that I’m right, that these visions are real.

“Shiro?” I start, and look to my left, where the voice came from. It’s not the voice I was expecting to hear.

“Lance? What’s up?” I try to sound casual, but it fails miserably. The blue paladin shifts uncomfortably. I brace myself, preparing to get lectured about how I should be taking care of myself.

“Shiro, I— I believe you.” I look up at these words. The usual humor is gone from his voice, and he looks sincere. “I tried to say something earlier, but I got interrrupted, and then you ran off to the training room, and you were so focused on the sim that I thought I might get sliced in half if I got in the way, so I waited until you were done, but— yeah, I believe you.”

Suddenly, I remember something that happened earlier. “You reacted to the name ‘Adam,’” I say. He nods.

“The Adam that taught at the Garrison, your fiancé? Is that who you saw?”

“Yes,” I say, then hesitate. Quietly, I add, “I think you know why it’s impossible that I saw him.”

“Because of his supposed mission failure? Yeah, I know all about that, trust me. How the craft disappeared behind Saturn, then was found orbiting the planet in pieces? Yeah— I’ve been looking into it.” After a moment, he says, “Wait, how do you know about it?”

“Keith,” I say. “Now what do you mean by ‘supposed’ mission failure?” At this, Lance smiles and reaches into his pocket. He pulls out a flash drive which is somehow connected to an Altean holographic projector.

“I was lucky enough to be carrying this flash drive with me when we found the blue lion,” he explains. “I asked Hunk and Pidge to make something I could use to look at the pictures on it after like a week of being in space. Now, look— here’s the image that Cassini III took of the wreck.”

I flinch when the image pops up. Sure, Keith had described the damage to me, but seeing the ship’s internal components scattered through space is a different thing entirely. Unable to look at the ruin any longer without imagining Adam’s terrifying final moments, I stare down at my feet. Lance puts a hand on my shoulder.

“I know,” he says, “but look here.”

He pulls up another image of the spacecraft. This time, it’s intact and on Earth. Adam stands in front of the craft with two women, beaming at the camera. He isn’t wearing his glasses— of course, because the Garrison fixed his eyes. In the brief time I was back on Earth, I’d found those glasses, along with two very familiar rings: one gold, one silver. I had put them in the internal pocket of the vest Keith gave me to wear, close to my heart, promising myself that I’d find Adam and apologize to him. Now, the glasses and the gold ring stay in my room in the castle, while I wear the silver ring— my ring—on a chain around my neck.

“Right here,” Lance says, pointing to the serial number branded into the ship’s side. “Read these three numbers for me,” he adds, indicating three digits in the middle of the code.

“Six, eight, two?” He nods, then flips back to the image of the wreck.

“Now, look at that same section here,” he says. “What does that say?”

“Eight, two... six...” I trail off, at a loss for words.

“I’ve looked at this picture so many times, Shiro. But only when I came up here did I realize what it could mean. What civilization would be advanced enough to create an almost perfect copy of a human ship, blow it up in a way that it looks like an internal error, then put it back in the orbit of Saturn, all while remaining hidden to our sensors? What alien civilization, who we now know has a tendency to abduct humans, was at the fringes of our solar system at that time, searching for a specific part of a specific super-weapon?”

My heart beats out of my chest. I hold my breath, waiting for him to say what I know is coming.

“I think Adam was taken by the Galra. And if you saw him on Arus, he must have escaped.”

“How... Why— why did you...” I’m trying to ask him how and why he knows all of this, but I can’t form the words. I feel like I’ve been hit in the chest by one of Haggar’s lightning bolts.

“I got to know Adam pretty well when you were gone. He even got semi-adopted into my family,” Lance chuckles.

“After all, remember those two women in the photo with him, who were on the mission with him? Their names are Veronica and Rachel, and they’re my sisters. If he’s alive, they might be too— and I’m gonna find them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHOHOHOHOHOHO  
> REMEMBER ADAM’S CREWMATES THAT I MENTIONED IN CHAPTER 1  
> I BET YOU THOUGHT THEY WOULDN’T BE IMPORTANT  
> BUT JOKE’S ON YOU!!!!
> 
> man i’ve been wanting to do this reveal since chapter 4 but I had to wait for the right time
> 
> In the next chapter, Adam goes to space mall!
> 
> THANKS FOR READING, Y’ALL ARE SO KIND


	9. Space mall

It’s been a couple of weeks since we came back from Arus and reported our findings to Kolivan. I’ve spent most of the time at the base training, but today, I was assigned my first solo mission. It’s not a mission of any particular difficulty— just infiltrate a mall, find certain supplies needed to upgrade the base, and slip out unnoticed— but I’m the best one for the job, simply because I don’t look like a Galra. I’ve tried to tell Ulaz and Thace that this is the only reason I was selected for this mission, but they aren’t having it.

“Thace, look at our boy go! He’s been assigned his first solo mission,” Ulaz had said, barging in on our poker game in the lounge last night. (Since Ulaz is technically my mentor, it’s protocol for him to get my assignments for missions and report them to me. Unfortunately.)

“Ulaz, we are in the middle of a game,” a blade named Ilaz said, clearly irritated by the distraction.

“Actually, I believe we are finished,” Antok said, throwing his cards on the table to reveal four of a kind. The four other blades playing watched regrettably as Antok took the entire stack of chips in the pot.

“Alright, Antok wins! I guess I’ll be cooking you some dessert tonight,” I said to him. Apprentices at the base take turns preparing the food each meal, and I had my first shift a couple of quintants ago. Apparently, the blades discovered a new appreciation for food after eating the dishes I made, and I’ve become highly coveted for my culinary skills— so much so that I had to make the prize of my poker game a handmade meal in order to get people to try the game.

After Antok and the other blades (except Thace) had left, Ulaz had explained my mission to me. He and Thace told me how rare it was for an apprentice to get a solo mission and rambled on and on about how proud they were of me. Then, I’d went to Kolivan to get the supplies for my mission.

When I asked him why he chose me to go, he simply said, “You are the least likely to be discovered as a Galra.” And that was that.

Now, I’m in the mall, wearing the most ridiculous outfit I’ve ever seen. The blades tried to give me a “normal” Earth outfit by digging through some of the artifacts one of them brought here from Earth. I think Thace mentioned her once, but I can’t remember her name. But whoever she is, she chose to bring the worst clothes to the base.

I almost don’t want to describe what I’m wearing because it’s so awful, but I guess I’m going to. Brace yourself.

The crop jean jacket with a pink angel wing design sewed on the back is probably the least offensive article of clothing, along with the clout goggles. I’m also wearing a too-tight crop tank top (seriously? A crop tank top?!) that says “Sun’s out, guns out” and a hot pink leopard print scarf. The black spandex pants might seem normal at first glance, but they have “SPANK ME” bedazzled on the butt. And, of course, what outfit would be complete without a pair of vomit-green crocs?

Also, the hair tie I’ve been using finally snapped yesterday, so now I have to deal with my shoulder-length hair getting in my face every ten seconds. (They gave me that stupid hair tie in Galra prison, and I’ve had it ever since. Apparently, Haggar can create laser eyes and prosthetic legs with working toes, but she can’t make permanent hair ties.)

I sigh and tuck my hair behind my ears, staring down at the list in my hands. Apparently, I need to find vortex bones, skyblade dragonsphires, meldspar ingots, teostra powder, and dah’renstones. I haven’t the slightest idea on what these might look like, but fortunately, Kolivan wrote a list of shop names where I might find them.

I hear a giggle nearby and look over, noticing a group of three alien women staring at me. One of them whistles at me and shouts, “Hey sexy, looking for some fun?”

“We can give ya some,” another says, and her friends nod in agreement. I’m suddenly aware of how tight my pants and shirt are, and how visible they make my curves and muscles. Blushing, I pull my crop top down in an (unsuccessful) attempt to cover my abs. They slowly start to approach me.

“Come on, sweetheart, we’ll be gentle,” the third woman says as she walks towards me.

I back up and say the first thing that comes to mind: “Sorry, I’m a vegan.” Then I duck into the nearest hallway. Fortunately for me, it’s pretty crowded, so I’m able to disappear in the group.

“Jesus, that was uncomfortable,” I mutter to myself. I’ve always been against sexual harassment and have stepped in to help my female friends when some guy just won’t leave them alone, but I’ve never experienced it myself. But now I think I understand it better. It’s weird, uncomfortable, and kind of scary— and it’s no compliment.

I look around and finally see a directory. To my relief, it’s written in Galran, which I can read now because of my knife. I guess when you conquer most of the known universe, your language and culture get spread around. I quickly spot the three shop names I need to visit, but I notice something strange in a nearby hallway.

“‘Earth store?’” Clicking on the directory’s screen, I pull up the summary of it. “Interested in Planet Earth’s latest fashions? Come on down to TERRA today! Free Kalteneckers with every purchase,” I read aloud. There’s a small note at the bottom that says “Currently out of Kalteneckers.”

I practically sprint my ass down to that store. When I get there, a stereotypical green Earth alien greets me and says, “May I interest you in the latest Earth fashions?”

I grab him by the shoulders and say, “Absolutely.” Evidently, he’s not used to this response. His eyes light up (literally) as I pull out the wallet the blades gave me, visibly full of cash. I grin at him and say, “Let’s do some business.”

~ ~ ~

An hour later, I leave the Earth store holding several giant bags. “Thank you, friend! Come back soon,” the alien says, waving to me. I wave back to him, then find my way to the nearest trash can and dump the hideous outfit in (excluding the clout goggles, which I tuck in the bag with my purchases.) I’m now wearing a much more comfortable and fashionable outfit—a pair of dark gray jeans, a white t-shirt, a black leather jacket, a long red scarf, and a pair of knee-length brown leather boots.

Fortunately for me, everything in that store was dirt cheap. I was able to get several of the same outfit (nice jeans and gray or white t-shirts— while I loved the shop, I have to say, he didn’t have much variety in the clothing section), a lava lamp, poker chips, a 2,000+ pack of hair ties, and several other earth knickknacks without even making a dent in my wallet. Now I just have to find the stuff for the base.

Fortunately for me, four of the items are relatively easy to get. Out of these four, the vortex bones are really the only thing that give me some difficulty because they’re so large, but the Space Mall staff are more than willing to help me tow them to my parked ship.

But the dah’renstones are really throwing me for a loop. I can’t seem to find the store that’s in my notes, even though I know where it should be. There’s just a wall here, between two shops. Sighing, I rest my hand against the wall.

But instead of leaning against the wall, I fall right through it. “What the—“ I start to say, but stop when I look around me. A dark, cramped hallway lined with stalls lies before me. Everybody is wearing a cloak, hood, or mask, and they’re all talking in hushed voices. I get to my feet and turn to see the mall behind me, through a holographic projection of a wall.

Turning back to the stalls, I notice that one of the stalls has the store name I’ve been looking for painted on a sign in front. I wrap my scarf up around my face, covering my mouth and nose, and walk over to it. There’s a four-armed clerk there, idly twirling a knife. Glancing up at me, he asks, “Whaddya want?”

I’ve never exactly visited a literal and figurative black market before, so I try to act how people do in the movies. I slowly walk up to the stall and, making my voice deeper (by about an octave, actually. Thanks, Galra genes!), I say, “I dunno. Got anything like...” I pause, then reach into my pocket, giving him a glimpse of the dah’renstone sample Kolivan gave me, and add, “this?”

“Maybe. How much do ya wanna know?” I slide a small wad of cash across the table, and suddenly he’s a lot more interested. He leans closer to me and whispers, “How much do ya want?”

“All that you have.” He takes out ten dah’renstones, much larger than the ones I have. I add more money to the pile and put the dah’renstones in my bag. But as I reach for the biggest dah’renstone, which I have to use both hands to carry, he suddenly grabs my wrists with all four of his arms. “Wha—“

“My apologies,” he says, “but you shoulda been more careful comin in. You got quite the bounty on your head, Champion.”

Before I can say anything, there’s a sudden commotion at the wall where I came in. A group of ten space mall cops enter the market area, and chaos breaks out as vendors desperately scramble to pack up their goods, customers flee, and the mall cops start tazing people.

I take this opportunity to yank my hands out of the aliens grip, and I chuck the last dah’renstone at him. Before I can see if it hit its mark, I spin around and, shoving through the screaming, panicked masses, I head towards the holographic wall. I duck, nearly missing a bolt from a cop’s gun, and dive through the wall.

I can see wheels in front of me, and I’m jerked upwards. A galra cop on a Segway is holding me up by my hair, grinning at me. “Thanks for showing me where your fellow space pirates were hiding. Now, get ready to feel the wrath of Varkon!”

Out of nowhere, Varkon gets punched so hard that he (and his Segway) topple over, and the grip on me is released. The alien who’d tried to kidnap me earlier shouts at him, “Get your hands offa my prize!” He then turns to me, but Varkon’s Segway revs up and spins around on the ground, knocking the other guy flat on his back.

“Take that, space pirate!” As those two flail around with each other, I sprint away towards the parking lot, pulling my knife out. I really wish I could have worn my suit for this mission because cloaking would be extremely useful right now.

I turn a corner and I bump into somebody. Of course, it’s one of those girls from earlier— but she doesn’t just have two friends with her. There’s about thirty alien women, and they’re all looking at me.

“It’s him!”

“Wow, he really is hot,” one of the new women says.

“Agh!” I start to run back the way I came.

One of the women shouts, “Get him!” I hear them running behind me and I turn the corner again, but I see Varkon and Four-arms sprinting toward me.

“Ack!” I turn back around, but the mob of women are still following me from that way. I look around frantically. Unfortunately, the only way out of this corner is through the two hallways or the fifty meter drop behind me. But suddenly, I notice a pole on the corner of the railing with a cord extending from it. My eyes follow the cord to its base, which just so happens to be another pole further down— right outside of the parking lot. I look at down the first hallway, then the other, then back at the pole, really not wanting to do what I’m about to do.

But I don’t have any more time to hesitate— both groups are practically on top of me. So I jump up on the railing, awaken my blade, and put the flat part of the axe against the wire and yell, “Fuck the system!”

I kick off of the railing and I start to zipline down the cord. Four-arms tries to grab me by the scarf, but fortunately, I didn’t tie it, so it just slides off of my neck.

While I’d love to say that I’m gracefully sliding down the cord, that’s really not what’s happening. My legs are flailing around as I try to stay balanced, I’m screaming, and I feel like I’m going to throw up as the ground wobbles beneath me. Fortunately, I’m able to focus enough on my landing that I can shrink my blade and roll out of the way of the pole, and, most importantly, I don’t stab myself or fall.

Quickly, I cut the cord behind me and rush into the parking lot. I jump into my ship and power it up, then steer out of the lot and into space. As soon as I’m out of the lot, I turn cloaking on, and finally release the breath I’ve been holding in. I watch as the moon slowly disappears behind my ship until it’s nothing but a tiny speck in the vastness of space, then use the ship to open up a small wormhole and drive through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so much fun to write!!!!!!! If you want to see Adam’s space mall outfit, I drew it and put it on my twitter, @formtroyboltron!
> 
> It’s tech weekend of the show I’m in, so next update might take a couple of days, sorry!!
> 
> Next chapter will take place during the s1 finale! 
> 
> Gosh, we’re getting awfully close to s2 ep3. I wonder what’ll happen when we get there........... ;)
> 
> THANK YOU FOR READING AGAIN I LOVE YOU ALL


	10. The black paladin

It’s a normal day at the base when it happens. I’ve spent the day training with Ulaz, and I’m unwinding at dinner by playing Uno with Ulaz, Ilaz, and Antok. I picked up a couple of decks when I was at space mall a few weeks ago, and I’ve taught the blades how to play. Just as I’m about to place my final card, a draw four card, searing hot pain shoots through my entire body. I scream and fall on the floor, writhing in agony.

“Adam? Adam?!” I can faintly hear Ulaz’s concerned shouts, but I can’t see him. Instead, I see the black lion caught in a tractor beam, being pulled into a Galra ship. I can feel the lion’s pain as she’s being pulled in two directions— her thrusters are firing backwards at full power while the beam pulls her forwards. I watch helplessly as she surrenders control to the Galra. Zarkon’s face flashes before my eyes and my connection is broken.

Gasping, I bolt upright. The other blades are looking down at me, clearly concerned. “Th— The black lion,” I stammer, staring up at Ulaz. “Zarkon’s got her.” I stand, wincing in pain, and the four of us run to a nearby warp panel.

We’re warped into the control room where I had my first private conversation with Kolivan. Just as he did four phoebs ago, our leader sits at the control panel, examining the screen before him. Antok rushes over to him and tells him what happened. Kolivan sighs, then stands and looks at my mentor. “Ulaz, you will need to contact Thace.”

“But how can you do that without being traced or caught?” Thace has been stationed inside of Zarkon’s central command for a phoeb. It’s not like we can just call him up on a space phone or something. I’m not sure what Kolivan has planned, but it’s probably better than anything I’m thinking of.

“I will contact Thace through the Astral Plane,” Ulaz answers, which makes me even more confused.

“The Astral Plane? Isn’t that where you guys believe you’ll go when you die?”

“It is more than that,” Ulaz starts to explain, but he’s interrupted by Kolivan.

“Tell him on the way to the pods. If Zarkon truly has the black lion, we have no time to waste.” Turning to me, he says, “You will need to enter the Astral Plane as well.”

“Me?! But I don’t even know what that is!”

“Yes you do. In fact, you have been there once before. Now go.”

“But—“ Ulaz pulls me out of the room by my wrist before I can ask any more questions. Fortunately, as I run alongside him, he starts to explain.

“The vision you described having on Arus— that was the Astral Plane. It is typically seen as if one is in outer space, floating among the stars.”

“Oh,” I say. He leads me to another warp panel which leads to sector 4. “But what is it?”

“A metaphysical realm in which consciousness is stored. Every living creature is a part of its energy, but only a very few intelligent life forms can access it. Normally, it takes years of training to be able to even enter the realm. However, your connection with the black lion appears to have opened it to you, and even allowed you to use the Astral Plane’s abilities.”

“And those are?”

“In the Astral Plane, distance is insignificant. If you have a strong enough connection with somebody, you can contact them through it instantaneously in a way that cannot be detected or tracked.”

“Oh, radical,” I say as we reach the pods. “So, do I just get in the pod and pop out in the Astral Plane?”

“You will be put into a dreamlike trance once you enter the pod. It will be easier for you to connect with the black lion once inside.” I nod and go to enter the pod, but he grabs my shoulder.

“Do not linger,” he says. “Stay too long, and you will be unable to return.” On that happy note, he goes into his pod and seals himself in.

“So my job is to enter another realm, talk to a giant robotic space cat and convince it that the purple furries are bad? Got it,” I mutter to myself, getting in the pod. Mist surrounds me as the pod seals, and my eyelids start to droop. As I’m put to sleep, I add, “What could possibly go wrong?”

Within seconds, I open my eyes again. The mist has faded and I’m among the stars again. Before me sits the black lion.

“Well that was quick,” I say to myself. Then, I shout, “Hey! Black lion! I’m here to save you from the Galra!”

 _I had hoped you would come, little one_.

I scream and leap backwards, falling on my ass. Then I crawl backwards, looking around wildly for the source of the strange voice. But no one’s there. I look back at the lion, and run over to her.

“Hey! If you’re looking to hurt this lion, you’ve got another thing coming! You’re gonna have to get through me before you touch her!” I pull out my blade, prepared to fight, but my challenges aren’t answered by anyone. Instead, the black lion scoops me up in her right paw and raises me until I’m at her eye level.

 _It was not my intention to scare you_ , I hear the voice say. I squint at the lion.

“Is that... you? Talking to me?” Her mechanical head bobs up and down. “Oh,” I say, feeling rather awkward. “Sorry about that. I thought that maybe one of the Galra were here and they might try to hurt you.”

 _I appreciate your concern_ , she says, purring. _You are kinder than the other two_.

“The other two?”

 _Yes, the two other beings I have bonded with. They are fighting each other for control of me_.

“Ah, sorry about that. I’m assuming one of the people you’re talking about is Takashi?” She nods again. “He can be kind of a control freak, especially while he’s flying. It was hard enough for him to fly with me, I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for him to fly a ship with a will of its own.”

 _He thinks about you often_.

“Really? I mean,” I say, trying to hide the doubt in my voice, “he hasn’t found some fancy new boyfriend here in space?”

 _No. He is very loyal to you. Ever since the blue paladin has restored his hope that you are alive, he has been trying to find you_. I can feel my face heating up, so I change the subject.

“So! Uh, who’s the other guy in your head? You said there were two people besides me, right?”

 _The one who took me— Zarkon_.

I nearly fall off of the lion’s paw.

“ _What_?!”

 _He was the original black paladin. He seeks to reclaim me as his own_. With a hint of sadness in her mechanical voice, she adds, _I watched, helpless, as he became the monster you see today._

“So he wasn’t always evil?”

_No. He used to be quite similar to your Takashi— a strong leader with sound morals who had a dream of universal peace. I am afraid to accept your Takashi as my new paladin because I fear he will befall the same fate._

“What happened?”

_That is a story for another time, little one. You cannot spend much longer here, and I need your help._

Frustrated, I ask, “Why _me_?!” It’s what I’ve been wondering ever since Arus— no, ever since Takashi was pronounced dead. I asked it when Haggar beamed Veronica, Rachel, and I up in her ship, when Haggar took my eye, and when I connected with the blade.

But this ends just like every other time I’ve asked this question: with no answer. I’m pulled into the black lion, and I feel her power flow through me. A bright light floods my eyes.

When my vision clears, I’m in the hangar of a Galra cruiser. In front of me, I see a shitload of ghostly Haggars, all surrounding a single figure lying on the floor. His side has glowing purple scratches on it, which I can only assume are Haggar’s doing. Anger wells up in me, and I see a solid Haggar lunge toward Takashi.

I shoot an eye laser at her, missing her by centimeters. Shocked, she leaps backwards and her body doubles fade. She looks around, trying to find her assailant. I decide to help her out.

“HEY,” I yell, and both Takashi and Haggar’s eyes lock on me.

Takashi whispers, “Adam?”

Haggar asks, “Champion?”

“YEAH, REMEMBER ME, BITCH?! STEP OFF MY MAN!” I run towards her, firing my eye laser, but she vanishes, teleporting away. “Yeah, you’d better run,” I call out after her.

“Adam? Is that you?” Takashi is standing, clutching his side as he starts to walk towards me.

“Hell yeah it’s me! Did you see what I just did?!” I walk over to him and try to support him, but my hands pass right through him. “Ah,” I say, disappointed. He looks at me, confused, and reaches toward my face. His fingers hover over my glowing skin— _wait, what_?!

I look down at myself and realize I’m glowing purple. I’m also wearing some weird body armor, which looks pretty much the same as what Takashi’s wearing but in dark purple instead of black.

“Adam,” Takashi says, staring at me, “How are you here?”

“Ah, well, about that,” I say, sheepishly rubbing my hand along the back of my neck. “I’m not actually here— I’m in a pod in an undetectable rebel base that’s probably millions of light years away. Somehow, the black lion seems to have connected with me back on Arus—“

“You were on Arus?! When?!”

“I dunno, a couple of months ago? But that’s not important right now,” I say, shaking my head. “I can’t stay long.”

“What?! No, you can’t just leave, you just got here! How am I going to find you again?!” Although his desperate cries hurt my heart, I know I can’t stay, despite how much I want to. I can hear alarms blaring, and I know he doesn’t have much time left either.

“I’m sorry, Takashi.” I turn away from him, and can see the black lion through the walls of the ship. I whistle loudly and put all of my energy into summoning her. I see her start to move towards us, and I say, “Until we meet again—“

“NO!” Takashi tries to tackle me to the ground, but he passes right through me and falls. “Please,” he begs, looking up at me with those breathtaking brown eyes.

“I love you, Takashi.” The black lion bursts through the hangar’s wall, crushing a group of Galra sentries coming towards him. She scoops Takashi up in her mouth, then looks down at me.

“Take care of him for me, please!” The lion raises her head and roars at my shout, then takes off through the hangar. The last thing I see before I wake myself up is the fading figure of the lion soaring out into space.

The pod opens and I try to step out, but I instantly fall over. It feels like when you sit on your foot for too long and it falls asleep, but in my whole body. (Well, not in my stupid Galra leg, but everywhere else.) Fortunately, a blade is there, and she helps me up and gets me to the nearest bench.

“Thanks,” I say as she hands me some water. After taking a few sips, I notice Ulaz still in his pod. “Should we get him out of there?”

“No— he’s had much more training than you. He will be fine for a while longer.” She examines me, and I get a strange feeling. I’m certain we’ve never met, but something about her face is familiar. But the shadow of resemblance passes as quickly as it came, and I’m left wondering if my mind is playing tricks on me.

“I haven’t seen you around before,” I say, trying to make conversation.

“I just finished with my three deca-phoeb long mission of infiltrating a Galra commander’s base, and I am here to report back to Kolivan and get my new assignment.”

“Oh, okay. I’m new here, so that makes sense. My name’s Adam.” I offer my hand to her.

“Krolia,” she says in response, then shakes my hand. It seems like she wants to ask me something, but is hesitant to. Finally she says, “What planet are you from?”

“I’m from the planet where the blue lion was discovered— Earth. Why do you ask?”

“I protected the blue lion on Earth for a while. You look like the humans I encountered.” Oh, so she’s the blade who Thace had mentioned that one time! Maybe I’d seen a picture of her before, and that’s why she seems familiar? That makes the most logical sense, but my gut tells me that ain’t it. “How did you become a part of the blades? Because if you are part galra, that must mean another Galra was there before me.”

“Oh, it’s not like that,” I say quickly. “Both of my parents were human.” I can see the question in her eyes before she asks it, so I add, “I was kidnapped by Haggar and she loaded me up with some Galra quintessence. It wasn’t enough to turn me into a heartless killing machine, though, so I’m pretty much the same guy as I was before, but I have all the benefits of being Galra. Y’know, night vision, enhanced hearing, sensitivity to Quintessence, and all that jazz that humans don’t have.”

She sighs a bit and looks down at her feet. Then she looks back up at me and says, “When I was on Earth, I fell in love with a human and had a son.”

I shouldn’t be surprised. Probably about a third of the blades I’ve met are half-breeds. But it’s hard to imagine that on my home planet, there’s some half Galra kid wandering around somewhere.

“I had to leave him to protect him— and the rest of the planet— from Zarkon. But I often find myself wondering about him. I hope he’s being taken care of, and that he knows that I love him. I worry that I made the wrong choice in leaving, and that, when we meet again, he will hold it against me.”

“Y’know, I feel the same way. Not about my son— I don’t have one— but about my adoptive little brother.” With a twinge of bitterness, I remember how Sanda had barely even given me time to say goodbye to Keith. “But you know what? I think if you explain why you had to leave to your kid, he’ll probably understand. He might be angry or resentful at first, but we humans are a lot better at forgiveness than the Galra. Don’t worry,” I say, patting her on the back. “He’ll come around.”

She smiles at me gratefully. “I hope your younger brother will too,” she says. Just then, Antok walks into the pod room and beckons for her to join him. She stands, waves at me, then walks towards him.

As she walks, I get the same feeling I did earlier. There’s something in the way she carries herself that’s eerily familiar— but I just can’t place it.

What _was_ that?

Before I can think too much on it, though, Ulaz emerges from his pod. He steps out (much more gracefully than my fall earlier), and I ask, “Did it work?”

“Yes. I contacted Thace, and he lowered the shields. It seems like Voltron has escaped successfully.”

“Awesome,” I say, yawning. Being in the Astral Plane is surprisingly exhausting, especially after a long day of training. I tell Ulaz good night, then head off to my quarters.

~ ~ ~

Two quintants later, I’m packing up my belongings into a small ship. Ulaz and I are going to an unmanned base, hidden in the middle of a remote xanthorium cluster field.

Krolia helps me load my belongings onto the ship. I don’t really have a ton of stuff, so I have the feeling she’s here for another reason.

“I think that’s everything,” I say, putting my space mall bag with my trunk and my axe backpack. (Yeah, that’s literally all I have. I really didn’t need any help carrying stuff in.)

Krolia looks downwards and says, “I’d like to thank you for what you said the other quintant. We may never see each other again, so I thought I should tell you here.” It’s a harsh reality, but it’s one I’ve gotten used to. I shake her hand and wish her well in her travels, and she does the same for me.

The ship door closes, and I stare out the window back at her, waving. As she waves back, again I feel that she reminds me of someone, so strongly that I almost call out to Ulaz and tell him to stop the ship. But I don’t, and we leave both her and the base behind us as we fly away, not knowing when or if we’ll return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all better buckle up for the next chapter because it's going to be told in three parts! It's going to be the first climax of this fanfic (yeah, there's going to be quite a few scenes that I consider climaxes.) And guess what the chapter's going to be called?  
> Reunited.
> 
> HOOOOO BOY there was so much going on in this chapter!!! It was really hard to choose a title for it, so I just chose the title of the episode that this chapter's about. Or did I do it for another reason? Only time will tell ;)
> 
> Since the astral plane doesn't make a whole lot of sense in canon, I thought I'd try to explain it a bit here! And I'd like to note that Adam isn't just magically better than at getting into the astral plane than other people. It's mainly because of the black lion that he can access it. There's another reason for it, too, but that won't come into play until later. 
> 
> ADAM FINALLY SAID IT, HE FINALLY SAID I LOVE YOU!!! I KNOW I'M THE ONE WHO WROTE THIS BUT IT STILL MAKES ME EXCITED
> 
> ADAM AND KROLIA DON'T REALIZE THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT THE SAME PERSON AND I THINK THAT'S BEAUTIFUL
> 
> man, there was a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter
> 
> As always, thank you so so so so SO much for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy the fic!!!!!!!


	11. Reunited

It’s been a long phoeb on this desolate outpost. I’ve kept myself entertained by constantly training with Ulaz, using the Astral Plane to space-Skype with my friends at the main base, and, of course, upgrading the outpost. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working on hooking up a remote steering system for the outpost (which is just one big ship). I think I’m finally done with it though, so Ulaz and I leave the base in a small ship to see how it works.

Fortunately, it works great! I can control the thrusters of the main ship, open the space-time pocket it’s concealed in, and I’m really good at steering it through the xanthorium crystals.

I’m kind of surprised it works as well as it does, considering that the remote I’m using is an old Wiimote (complete with the steering wheel accessory) that I picked up from the Earth store. But I was able to upgrade its internal components with some Galra tech so now the Wiimote and the outpost stay connected, even as I fly it between a ton of xanthorium and as far away as Earth’s moon is from the planet. I can tell Ulaz is looking at me as I’m steering, so I park the ship and say, “Wanna try?”

He nods, and I tell him the controls (which are basically the same as Mario Kart Wii) then hand him the Wiimote. “Oh, by the way, don’t click on the control pad or the home button right now. The control pad fires the base’s canons, but I haven’t quite gotten it to aim properly yet, and the home button opens the space-time pocket.” He steers the base around a bit, carefully maneuvering around the crystals. Ulaz seems to be getting the hang of it when suddenly, an alarm goes off on our mini-ship.

I’m filled with dread when I see what the alarm signifies— a huge wormhole has just been opened nearby, and something big flew out of it. Our spacecraft can generate small wormholes, but this one is larger than anything a Marmora craft can produce. As far as I know, there’s only one person who can open wormholes on this scale: Haggar.

Part of the reason I was assigned to this secluded base was because of my link with the black lion. For all we know, Zarkon could have been using the lion’s connection with me to find my (and by extent, the Blade’s) location, and if that was the case, I’m not sure I could live with myself. So I came here to see if the Galra would be able to find this hidden outpost because of me— and unfortunately, it looks like they have.

Ulaz doesn’t seem so convinced that they’ve found us, though. He thinks we should go near the ship and investigate. Reluctantly, I press the home button on the Wiimote and watch as the base seemingly collapses into nothing, wishing I was inside. I then give it back to Ulaz. “For safekeeping,” I say as I hand it to him. He raises his eyebrows at me but says nothing, so I’m hoping he’s not guessing my ulterior motive.

You see, if this ship is here because of me (which it most likely is), there’s a high chance that I’ll be captured or killed. But even if I escape, they’ll just be able to find me over and over again through the lion. I want Ulaz to be able to get away, even if I can’t. It’d suck if my life ended here, but if that’s what needs to happen to keep the Blade of Marmora safe...

These thoughts are preoccupying me so much that I almost crash into the ship. Fortunately, I turned on cloaking earlier, so we’re undetectable right now. When I finally see the blue and white ship in front of me, I can’t help but ask, “What the hell is that?”

“I have never seen another ship like it,” Ulaz says, peering through the cockpit window. “It certainly is not Galra. We need to examine it closer.”

Something about this doesn’t feel right to me. But I’m not about to argue with Ulaz about this, so I try to ignore the gut feeling that I’m in serious danger. I summon my mask and open the ship’s door, and Ulaz and I fly into space.

It’s almost too easy to get inside. An alarm is blaring, but there’s no hordes of Galra troops coming to kill us. In fact, this place looks deserted. It’s a nice change, but I just can’t shake the feeling I have. I really want to turn cloaking on, but I don’t want to just leave Ulaz out in the open.

I hear something behind me, and I see somebody in blue and white armor holding a gun up. They start to fire at Ulaz, but Ulaz is too quick for them. While Ulaz is busy with them, someone dressed in similar armor, but in green instead of blue, approaches me. They’re holding a small green electric spike, and they charge at me. I sidestep the green kid, grab their arm, and flip them over, throwing them into the blue one.

I pause for a moment, thinking that the armor looks kind of familiar. But then someone in yellow armor starts shooting at us, so I don’t have time to think about it. I rush towards him, ducking and weaving through the lasers, but someone in red comes and starts swinging a sword at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Green and Blue starting to get up.

“Ungh,” I grunt loudly, getting Ulaz’s attention. I gesture to the two of them, and I think Ulaz takes care of them, but I don’t have time to look, because Red comes back at me with their sword. I awaken my blade and cross weapons with Red. Red seems to get distracted by the symbol on my blade, so I take the opportunity to punch them in the face. Their helmet falls off as they fall into a wall, and I pin them against it. I change my blade back to a knife and press it against Red’s throat. But when my assailant looks up at me, I’m in for quite a shock.

“Keith?!” Sure, he’s a little older, his hair’s longer, but this is definitely the kid I left back on Earth. He tries to struggle against my pin, so I demask. His eyes widen when he looks into mine, but before he can say anything, he gasps, looking at something behind me.

I hear someone yell, “Stay away from him!” I turn, and all I can do is watch as Blue’s bullet rips through my chest.

Keith screams, “NO!” But it’s too late. In the split second after it happens, someone screams, and everything stops. The fighters all go still and turn towards me. Slowly, I look downwards, seeing the small hole it made, and I watch as dark liquid starts to flow out.

I look back up and see that behind Blue, there’s a figure in the same armor as the others, but it’s black and white, and I finally remember from where I recognized the armor from. I laugh, deliriously, thinking of how ironic it is, that finally, here Takashi is, right in front of me, but now I’m going to bleed to death right before his eyes.

I slump against the wall and slide against it to the ground. The pain is radiating out from the bullet wound, and I want to cry out in pain, but I feel strangely disconnected from everything. Keith and Ulaz sit down by my side, and Keith grabs my hands and presses them against the wound. He’s got tears in his eyes.

“Adam, no, no, please! Please stay awake, Adam, it’s going to be okay,” he cries, clearly panicking. I move one of my hands, now covered in red, up to his face and wipe his tears away. My hand is shaking, and my voice shakes as I speak, but I need to tell him this, so I fight through the pain.

“Keith, I’m sorry,” I say weakly. “I didn’t want to leave you on Earth.”

“What? Adam, I never blamed y—“

“No,” I reply, shuddering as I put my hand back over my chest. “I know what you felt like. I felt that way when my dad left, then when my mom died, and especially when Takashi left. I— I tried to walk away from the mission but Sanda, she— she threatened to kick you out of the Garrison and put you back in a foster home,” I choke out, starting to sob, finally realizing what’s happening to me. “I— I had to— protect you—“

“Adam, it’s fine,” Keith sobs, and I smile a little bit. I can hear footsteps, and then _he_ ’s there, kneeling down next to me, scarred and with a clump of white hair, tears streaming down his face, but it’s _him_.

“Takashi,” I wheeze. He puts his hand over mine, and I can feel his warmth. I start to laugh again and say, “I— I worked so hard to g— get back to you.” My laugh turns into a harsh cough, and it takes me a moment to continue. “I— I’m s— sorry I— I tripped at t—the finish line,” I say, fully sobbing now. My vision’s fading to black, and all I can feel is fear.

“No, Adam, you’re going to be okay,” he says desperately, more to himself than me. “You just need—“ he stops mid-sentence, and he looks like he has an idea. My eyelids droop, but I feel his strong arms picking me up, carrying me to safety. I think I hear him say, “Get a pod ready,” but I’m not sure. I can’t see anything anymore, and I feel like I’m floating away, out of my body.

“I love you, ‘Kashi,” I murmur. Then everything goes black.

 

  
**** PART 2: Shiro ****

Not gonna lie, I’m pretty panicked as I run down to where the other paladins are fighting the two intruders. I’m the reason we came out here, so if anything happens to the other paladins, that’s on me.

I round the corner to where the fighting is, and I see Keith pinned up against a wall with a knife against his throat by one of the intruders with his back to me. The other intruder is fighting Hunk and Pidge, but Lance is open. He aims at the intruder who has Keith and shouts “Stay away from him!”

Lance fires, and then three things happen in an instant: Keith screams, the intruder turns around without his mask on, and I recognize him. He looks different from how I’ve seen him in the black lion— he has a scar over one of his eyes, both of which are now a deep purple, and he’s got two white streaks in his significantly longer hair— but I know it’s him. He’s not looking at me, though— he’s looking at Lance’s bullet, his purple eyes widen and his lips part in shock as it rushes towards his heart—

I let out a wordless shriek, and then he’s looking down at his chest, where there’s a dark splotch which rapidly grows. His head rises again, and this time, he catches sight of me. For some reason, he starts to laugh as he looks at me, but I can see the tears forming in his eyes.

I want to run to him, but I’m frozen. Helplessly, I watch as he stumbles and falls back into the space where Keith was just standing. Keith kneels besides him, and the other intruder— who I also recognize— demasks and sits by Adam’s other side.

“Ulaz,” I say, numbly. “That’s Ulaz.”

A loud clang draws my attention away from Adam, who’s saying something to Keith. Lance’s gun has fallen out of his hands, which he raises to cover his mouth. “No,” he whispers, tears falling freely from his eyes. Guilt is etched into his face as he starts to realize what he’s done.

I feel my feet start to move and realize I’m walking towards Adam, who’s lying on the floor, shuddering and shaking. His eyes lock on to mine, and they light up a bit when he sees me. His bare hands are soaked in his own blood, covering the hideous wound. Keith scoots over a bit, and I sit down beside my Adam.

“Takashi,” he says, sounding pitifully weak. I touch his hands with my real one, and he smiles. There’s so much I want to say to him, but there’s a lump in my throat that I can’t swallow. All I can do is watch as the red pool he’s lying in grows. “I— I worked so hard to g— get back to you,” he stammers, trying to laugh. Instead, he coughs, and I see a small red drip come from the corner of his mouth. I want so badly to tell him that I love him, but I still can’t speak.

“I— I’m s— sorry I— I tripped at t—the finish line,” he chokes out, then starts to cry hysterically. He spasms, and I feel physical pain at the sheer terror in his eyes. The thought that I had when Keith first told me about Adam’s failed mission comes back to haunt me: _I should have been the one who died first._

“No, Adam, you’re going to be okay, you just need—“ I stop suddenly, realizing that in my panic, I forgot about the healing pods the castle has. I pick Adam up bridal style and start to sprint towards the pods. I pass Allura, who’s running back towards where we were fighting and yell, “Get a pod ready!”

“What?”

“On it,” Coran’s voice yells from the coms.

Adam shifts in my arms, and he looks up at me, eyes barely open. “Stay awake for me, please,” I pant. His eyes look unfocused and are glazing over, and he shows no sign of having heard me.

“I love you, ‘Kashi,” I hear him mumble. He goes limp in my arms, so I push on, sprinting as fast as I possibly can. My whole body burns, and I start to wish that this castle wasn’t so damn big.

After what feels like an eternity, I finally reach the pod room, where an open pod is up and waiting. I shove Adam’s motionless body into it and slam the door shut. Breathing heavily, I lean against the pod as it diagnoses him. It seems like it’s taking forever to find the fatal wound and start to fix it.

Finally, the green light comes on, and I know he’s going to be okay. I breathe a sigh of relief, then finally look him over. He’s still wearing his black body armor which, now that he’s in the healing pod, has repaired itself over the bullet wound.

“Oh Adam,” I murmur, “what happened to you?” Now that I’m close to him and he’s (sort of) standing up, I realize he’s gotten a lot taller. He used to be slightly shorter than me, even before I went to space and grew a couple inches. But now he’s at least six inches taller than me and really, really buff. I can’t tell because of the body armor, but on the scans, it looks like there’s something different about his left leg and eye, the one with the scar over it. And, of course, he’s got two white streaks in his hair now. I shiver as I start to imagine what might have happened to him.

“Is he gonna be okay?” I start, not expecting to hear a voice behind me. I guess I was so focused on Adam, I didn’t hear Lance come in. His eyes are red from crying and his voice is shaky.

I nod, and Lance walks towards the pod to look at Adam. While part of me wants to be mad at him, I just can’t be. After all, if I’d been in the same situation, I probably would’ve done the same.

“I didn’t mean to,” Lance says, voice trembling. “I— if I knew it was him, I wouldn’t have— I just wanted to protect Keith, he means more to me than I thought he ever would—“ he stops abruptly and blinks. He seems surprised by what he just said.

I put my hand on his shoulder and say, “Don’t worry, Lance, I’m sure any of us would’ve done the same. But he’s going to be okay.”

He stares at the pod, still looking guilty. “It’s gonna take him over a day to heal? That’s even longer than you took after Haggar got you.”

“Well, it seems like there’s something up with his leg and his eye— see, the scanner’s got them outlined in red,” I explain, pointing.

“That’s what your arm looked like in the scan,” he says, looking sideways at me. “D’you think he—“

“Shiro!” Keith’s voice interrupts Lance as he runs in the room. When he sees Adam in the pod, healing, Keith looks slightly relieved. He notices Lance with me and adds, “Oh, hey Lance,” in an unnaturally high voice. Awkwardly, Keith runs his thumb over his hand for a moment, then says, “Thanks for trying to save me back there.”

“Uh, no problem,” Lance says, ducking out of the room. Rolling my eyes, I turn to Keith.

“When are you two going to have a real conversation?”

“Shut up,” he grumbles in response, punching my arm. God, I can’t wait to tell Adam how hard these two have been pining for each other!

“That’s not why I’m here though!” Grabbing my arm, Keith drags me out of the pod room and drags me into the lounge, where Ulaz is sitting in handcuffs. Pidge and Hunk look on nervously as Allura yells at him.

“Hey! Whoa,” I say, trying to calm Allura down. “Is this really necessary?”

“I will not have some quiznacking Galra soldier on the bridge of my ship!”

Ulaz sighs and says, “If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead.”

“Are your Galra threats supposed to win me over?! Keep talking like that, and I will take your friend out of the pod!” Immediately, I lunge towards her, heating my Galra arm up and holding it to her neck.

“Shiro,” Hunk yells, “what are you doing?!”

“You will do no such thing,” I snarl at Allura, who stares at me with wide eyes.

Then she squints at me and says, “Defending another Galra soldier, are you? Which side are you on, Shiro?”

“That ‘Galra soldier’ is my _husband_!”

“And he’s my friend,” Lance pipes up, entering the room. “Also, he’s not Galra! He’s human, but I think he was taken by the Galra, like Shiro.”

“Correct,” Ulaz says. “His name is Adam Shirogane—“ _Oh my god, he took my last name?! Maybe he still loves me after all_! “—and he was taken along with the other two aboard his ship.” Lance inhales sharply.

“Those two were sent to become scientists for the Empire, while Adam was sent to the gladiator arena. Haggar made him into her other Champion, and he was slated to fight against you, Shiro, the day after your escape.” I feel like I’ve been sucker-punched in the stomach. I pull the silver ring hanging from my neck up to my face and press my lips against it.

“After Shiro escaped, I needed to disappear. I knew Haggar would continue to experiment on Adam, and with him having her full attention, he would be in grave danger. So when I escaped, I freed Adam, intending to return him to Earth.”

“You— you freed him,” I stammer as tears once again rush to my eyes.

“If you believe what he says,” Allura scoffs, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, this all seems kind of weird,” Pidge says. “Why would you free Adam and none of the other human prisoners?”

“But why would Adam be working with him if Ulaz didn’t free him? It doesn’t make sense,” I counter.

“Unless Haggar put him under mind control or something,” Hunk says. “I mean, we have no idea what she’s capable of, for all we know she could’ve learned how to take over someone’s mind the day after you escaped, Shiro.”

“No,” Keith replies, stepping forwards. “He recognized me, and he told me something Haggar could never have known about. Adam apologized to me for leaving, then said he knew how I felt and he didn’t want me to feel that way. First of all, Haggar is incapable of empathy, so why would she have Adam say something like that? Plus, Haggar couldn’t have known about how his dad left, then his mom died, then Shiro left him for Kerberos.”

Oof. Maybe I’m not as off the hook as I thought I was with Adam, if he said that in what he thought were his final moments. I decide it’s time to change the subject and ask, “So, where’s the base you told me about? Behind all the xanthorium clusters?”

“No, right in front of it— in a hidden pocket of space-time. Adam created a device which can open the pocket remotely. You will find it in my bag— it seems to be a device from Earth.”

I open the bag and instantly see what he’s talking about. I snort and say, “You’ve got to be kidding me. How did Adam get one of these all the way out here?” I retrieve a Wiimote, complete with a steering wheel accessory, from Ulaz’s bag. We paladins all share a laugh while Allura, Coran, and even Ulaz look on, puzzled.

“You say he connected the base to this thing? Man, I wanna talk to this guy,” Hunk says admiringly.

“Yeah, Adam’s really smart— he was best friends with my brother. He and Matt taught me how to code when I was a kid.”

“You still are a kid, Pidge,” Lance teases, and Pidge punches his arm. “So, how do we open the space-time pocket with this?”

“The blue button in the center,” Ulaz says. I give the home button a push, and just like that, a giant black ship pops up in front of us.

“Whoa,” I say. I remember something that happened earlier and turn to Ulaz. “When you released me, you also mentioned that there were others working with you.”

“Yes. We are called the Blade of Marmora.”

“Uh, others? Are they here?”

“Adam and I are alone on this base. Now that I know it is Shiro who has come, you are welcome to our outpost. Once you are in range, you can park your ship and come aboard the base with me, and we can hide your ship in the space-time fold as well.”

“Ooh! Can we go?” Hunk’s question is echoed in the other paladins’ eyes. Ulaz nods, and Pidge and Hunk cheer together while Keith crosses his arms and rolls his eyes.

“If you will free me, I need to send a message to leadership. They need to know I have made contact with Voltron. But first— if you do not mind— I would like to check on Adam.”

“Allura, would you free him please?” The princess glares at me, the resentfully unchains Ulaz.

“Keep an eye on him. I’m staying here.” With that, she spins around and stalks away. Lance follows her, but I’m wondering if he’s just trying to avoid Keith.

“Pidge, Hunk, do you mind getting a pod ready for us? We’ll be right down,” I say. They leave and Keith and I lead Ulaz to the pod room.

Adam is still asleep in the pod and he looks slightly better than before. Color is starting to return to his face, but his fists are clenched and his eyebrows are all scrunched up.

“Why does he look like he’s in pain? What’s happening to him?”

“He might be having a bad dream,” Keith replies. “The same thing happened to you after Haggar attacked you. Allura said that sometimes, when you’re in the pod, it’ll cause involuntary brain action.”

“Is he going to be alright?” Both Keith and I are surprised by how concerned Ulaz sounds. I nod. “Where is his knife?” That seems like kind of a weird follow-up question to ask, but he probably has a reason. But I have no clue where it went.

“Here,” Keith says, pulling the knife out of his pocket. The purple symbol glows a lot weaker than it did earlier, and it keeps flickering slightly, but it never goes out. Ulaz takes the blade and puts it in his empty knife sheath.

“Our blades are connected to our life force,” Ulaz explains. “Although he is weak right now, he seems to be stabilizing. As long as the light does not go out, he will recover.”

Suddenly, Adam cries out, and all three of us run to the healing pod. I press my hand against the cool glass as he lets out another cry.

“Gah! No, please! Please, please no... Haggar, don’t, please... not my eye! Don’t take it out... N— no... ngh...” Adam’s pleas fade into silence, and he lets out a pathetic whimper. I feel like my heart’s been ripped out of my chest and stomped on. It hurts so much to see him this way, especially having an idea of what he went through from my own experience.

“She took his eye,” I say meekly.

“And his left leg,” Ulaz adds. Shuddering, I rub my hand against my prosthetic wrist, and Keith pats my back. I look down at the timer and see that Adam still has over a day left until he can come out of the pod.

Unable to bear looking at his too-still form any longer, I turn and say, “Let’s go see your base, Ulaz. We’ve kept Pidge and Hunk waiting long enough.”

~ ~ ~

I don’t know how he’s done it, but Adam sure has made this Galra outpost very homey. Alongside the built-in couches, there’s several bean bags, and a Nintendo Wii is set up in the middle of the lounge. Pidge and Hunk have been playing Super Mario Galaxy, one of the several Wii games that Adam somehow got, for hours now. There’s a fake jack-o-lantern, a lava lamp, fairy lights, and even a silver trash can that has “ADAM’S HOUSE” painted on it.

I’ve been talking with Ulaz for a while about the Blade of Marmora, how he’s come to know Adam, and a bit about himself. I’m surprised to learn that he’s gay, and he and his husband have sort of adopted Adam. In fact, according to Ulaz, all of the blades love him. Adam’s apparently taught them poker, uno, and several other things about Earth culture. But when it comes to Adam himself, Ulaz is rather tight-lipped about what he’s been through.

“I do not want to share anything he would not,” Ulaz explains. “It is better for him to tell the story.” So I’m left to guess at what Adam’s been through and how he got mixed up with this exclusive Galra organization.

About twenty hours after we arrived on the base, “Leadership” finally contacts Ulaz and gives him orders to escort us to the Blade of Marmora’s main base, in hopes that they can establish an alliance with us. This is great news because so far, we’ve been fighting alone in this war.

So Pidge, Hunk, Keith, and I help Ulaz pack up his and Adam’s things and move them to the castle of lions. Allura doesn’t like that one bit, and she makes sure to put Ulaz in the furthest room away from her.

“I hope I have not done anything to offend the Princess,” Ulaz says to me after I show him to his quarters. He seems worried.

“Ah, don’t worry,” I say, trying to reassure him. “She just doesn’t trust the Galra. After all, they destroyed her planet and all her people, so, uh... it might take her a while to warm up to you.”

It didn’t exactly help that a robeast attacked us just after we got the castle loaded. Allura was convinced that Ulaz had ratted us out, but then Ulaz used Adam’s handy Wiimote to pilot the ship into the robeast’s core and opened the space-time pocket from inside. After sacrificing the base, Ulaz suggested that we might be being tracked through the black lion. Whatever it is, though, we’ll have to find out before we visit the Blade of Marmora.

Ulaz retires for the night (day? afternoon? We’re in space, so it’s hard to tell) and I head to the pod room. Adam should be coming out any minute now, and I can’t contain my excitement to see him again. But I hear voices in the pod room and hesitate before going in.

“Something must be wrong with the scanners,” Allura’s voice says. “A human-Galra hybrid is hard enough to believe, but this?! There’s no way he can—“

“What’s going on in here?” Allura jumps at the sound of my voice, and quickly closes a screen on the pod.

“Nothing,” she and Coran, who’s at a computer nearby, say in unison. I raise an eyebrow. But before I can ask any questions, the pod counter ticks down to zero, and the glass door opens.

 

  
**** PART 3: Adam ****

I wake up standing in a ton of mist. Confused, I try to walk forward, but I’m seriously woozy and fall. Fortunately for me, there’s someone in front of wherever I am, and I fall into his strong arms.

“Hnngh?” My face is buried in this guy’s chest, and honestly, I’m very comfortable right where I am. With my arms wrapped around his shoulders, he’s probably struggling with suddenly having to support my entire body weight. But I don’t really care.

I hear other people walking into the room and talking to the guy. “Don’t worry, he just came out,” I hear him say, and I recognize the voice. “He seems kind of—“ Takashi starts to say, but I pull myself up to his height, still heavily leaning on him. His wide eyes are centimeters from mine.

Hardly coherent, I murmur, “Miss me, bitch?” Then I start making out with him— _hard_. By the time we pull out of the kiss, we’re both gasping for air. I smile at him softly, thinking of how I thought I’d never get to do that again—

“Wait, what?!” All of a sudden, I regain my senses and remember what happened last. I shove poor Takashi down and fumble around for my knife. It’s not on me, so I reach out to it and summon it. When it appears in my hand, everyone surrounding me gasps, and they gasp again when it turns into the axe. I back into a wall, swinging the axe around in the empty space in front of me threateningly. “Yeah, sure, I just died, but that don’t mean I’m not ready to fight! Now who the fuck are y’all?!” One person tries to walk towards me, so I run forwards and say, “I won’t hesitate, bitch!”

Suddenly, I get tackled to the ground. My axe flies out of my hand and skids across the floor, turning back into a knife. I grunt angrily, but before I can do anything, I’m smothered with kisses by Takashi, who’s pinning me down. Normally, I would appreciate the affection, but I’m painfully aware that there’s six other people watching. I notice that besides Keith, there’s three other people I recognize.

“Hunk?”

The Samoan teenager shyly looks down at his feet and says, “Hey, Professor. It’s sure been a while.”

“Katie?!”

Sure enough, it’s Matt’s little sister. She waves at me and says, “It’s great to see you, Adam!”

“ _Lance_?!”

“I’m so sorry I shot you! I didn’t know it was you—“

Finally, I manage to shove Takashi off of me. I stand and yell, “What the hell is going on here?!” Everyone jumps back from me and they’re all silent for a moment.

“Uh... Adam,” Keith says, “your eyes just turned yellow?”

“Yeah, that happens every now and then, ever since Haggar amped me up with Galra genes.” I rub my temples, suddenly aware of a splitting headache coming on. “So, let me get this straight. Somehow, the four of you got up into space along with Takashi, who’s now the black paladin, you found these two aliens, and you’re all fighting the Galra together? Wait, don’t tell me,” I say, throwing myself dramatically onto a nearby couch, “ _you’re_ all the paladins of Voltron?”

“Yes, these five human have become the paladins.” At the female alien’s remark, I groan and bury my face in a pillow.

“Thanks, Space Beyoncé.” Sighing, I look up and say, “Is Ulaz okay?” Once I get a nod of confirmation, I add, “Please don’t tell me anything else right now. Enough crazy shit has happened to me today, and I’m okay not knowing everything right now. Can I just go to bed?”

Apparently, everyone else is tired too, because they all start yawning and rubbing their eyes. Soon enough, the room clears and it’s just Takashi and I.

“I’m still mad at you, you know,” I say, crossing my arms. I try to sound convincing.

“Mhm,” Takashi says, sitting down besides me. “It sure didn’t seem like it from that kiss, and from what I’ve heard from Ulaz, you took my last name.” Again, I bury my face in my pillow. I make a mental note to kick Ulaz tomorrow.

“Adam,” Takashi says in a more serious tone of voice, “you were right. I shouldn’t have gone to Kerberos.”

“No shit,” I grunt from the pillow.

“When the Galra took me, all I could think about is how I left things with you. It was only then that the possibility of not seeing you again crossed my mind, and I couldn’t bear it. So when Haggar made me fight in her gladiator ring, I fought to get back to you. There was only one time I lost hope— when Keith told me you were dead, very soon after I became black paladin. But then I remembered what you’d always say to me when I was sick.”

“‘Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while,’” I quote. Takashi and I always loved to watch the Princess Bride together, and he would always compare me to the smart, mouthy Westley. As I look at him now, whatever anger I had left melts away, and I pull him into another kiss. “God, I missed you,” I whisper as I pull away.

Takashi runs his finger along the scar on my left cheek and looks at me sadly. “Oh Adam, what did they _do_ to you?”

“Can we talk about this tomorrow, please? Right now, I just want you, Takashi.” He grins at me and we get up. As he leads me to his room, I notice how much taller than him I am— probably about fifteen centimeters. Finally, I’ll be able to tease him about being the short one again! (Up until we were seventeen, I was always the taller one, but then Takashi had this huge growth spurt. He’s called me his “tiny bf” ever since, even though I was only shorter by like five centimeters.)

“I have a surprise for you, actually,” Takashi says as he opens the door. He sits down on the bed and takes off his vest (in an annoyingly sexy way), reaches into his shirt (also in an annoyingly sexy way), and pulls something out. It looks like a necklace, but the pendant is—

“Your engagement ring?” He nods.

“Keith had kept them back on Earth, and fortunately, in the small amount of time I spent there between escaping from the Galra and finding the lions, I took them with me.”

“Them? Does that mean…” My unfinished question is answered when Takashi reaches into a dresser drawer next to his bed and pulls out my golden ring, as well as my old glasses. Grinning, I grab the glasses and put them on. “Wow, I was blind!” I take them back off and punch the lenses out, then I set them on top of the dresser and sit next to Takashi. I extend my left hand to him and he gently slides the ring on my finger. I reach over and unclasp the chain around his neck and put his ring where it belongs. We look at each other and confirm our unspoken promise to each other.

“I love you, Adam.”

And finally, I get to tell him in person what I’ve been dying to say these past two years: “I love you too, Takashi.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SKSKOHEWOFHJQIMJRCHOIWEXHRUOQUXF Y'ALL IT HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> did you really think I would kill Adam here? come on, I have like 30+ chapters left, I'm not going to kill my protagonist here
> 
> also yeah, I saved Ulaz from being vored, so you're welcome
> 
> THE PLAY IS OVER SO I MIGHT FINALLY BE ABLE TO GET BACK TO DAILY UPDATES YEET
> 
> by the way, the part at the end of part 2 of this chapter, where Allura and Coran were looking at Adam's readings? yeah, that's going to be important later
> 
> in the next chapter, Adam and Ulaz are going to share stories with the paladins! And, of course, there will be more sappy Adashi!
> 
> THANK Y'ALL SO MUCH FOR READING UCFGYIENGFIXXUAWHKYGEFJYV
> 
> also pls follow me on twitter (@formtroyboltron), I tweet about my fic and sometimes put AUs up on there


	12. The space mice are like ancestry.com

“So what you’re saying is, the base is gone?” I shake my head, thinking of how we’re going to explain this one to Kolivan.

Ulaz and I are sitting at a large table with the paladins and the two other aliens, who have introduced themselves as Allura and Coran. They’ve been kind enough to serve us some sort of food goo, which is surprisingly good. But I get a weird vibe from them. It’s clear that they don’t trust Ulaz, but they seem seriously afraid of me. Which is weird, because you’d think they’d be more scared of the two and a half meter tall Galra warrior than his comparably scrawny human apprentice.

Their wariness towards me is far overshadowed by the paladins’ eagerness to see me, though. I have the pleasure of knowing all of them personally: Hunk through being his teacher for three years, Katie through her brother, Lance through my connection with his sisters, and, of course, Keith and Takashi. They’ve caught me up on everything that happened both when I was healing and while they’ve been paladins. But something in particular catches my attention.

“God, I’m glad you freed me when you did, Ulaz,” I say.

“Why is that?”

“If I’d stayed much longer, I probably would’ve been turned into one of those robeasts you’ve been fighting.”

“Huh? Can she even do that?” Pidge asks the question that all the others seem to be thinking. Ulaz and I share a concerned glance, then I turn back to her.

“Well, you see, Thace— Ulaz’s partner who’s stationed in Zarkon’s central command, he actually was the one who lowered the shields when the black lion was captured— anyway, Thace contacted Ulaz and I through something called the Astral Plane as we slept. Don’t ask me to explain it, I have no clue how it works,” I say before anyone can ask the obvious question. “But he said that the robeast you guys fought was made from a Galra commander’s quintessence. And you said that the robeast you fought on Arus was just like a warrior you fought in the ring, Takashi?”

“Yeah,” he says with a pause. “I guess that Haggar could’ve extracted his quintessence after I defeated him?”

“So if she did that to him and sent him to fight you as a robeast, who’s to say that she wouldn’t have done the same to me?” At this, the table falls silent, and everyone looks away from me except Takashi. I shudder a bit, thinking of what might have become of me if not for Ulaz.

Takashi scoots his chair closer to mine and wraps an arm protectively around me.Then he looks at Ulaz and somberly says, “Thank you.” The Galra nods back at him. “So, now that we’ve told you all about us, what happened to you?”

“Well, it’s simple, really, compared to what happened to you guys. I got beamed up by Haggar along with my crewma— Oh!” I leap out of my chair suddenly, which causes Takashi to fall out of his.

“Sorry, love,” I say to him, then I address Lance. “On the outpost, there were a ton of Galra prisoner logs. They were recent, too, so I downloaded them and started a scan of them. Actually, the scan should be done by now."

“Uh, I hate to break it to you, but your outpost just got eaten by a big robot, which then exploded,” Hunk says.

“Well then, it’s a good thing I—“ I take this moment to extend my left leg onto the table before me then say, “—downloaded it to my leg!”

I’m met with blank stares. “Oh, right,” I add awkwardly, “my left leg got chopped off. But I got a fancy new Galra one that can do cool shit like download prisoner logs! And here, watch this!” I pull my uniform boot off and tap on a holographic control panel on my shin. A projection screen pops up and hovers just above my metal toes. I read the screen and am relieved to find that the scan wasn’t impacted by my being shot and put in a healing pod for like a day.

“Aw, that’s too bad,” Hunk says, staring at the screen.

“Huh?”

“It’s all written in Galran,” Keith tells me. I look back at the screen, confused, and then it clicks.

“Ohhh, I must be able to read Galran because of my knife! Man, that’s handy!”

“Is that supposed to make us less confused? Because I think you’re doing exactly the opposite,” Lance says.

“I’ll explain it later. Hey, do you guys have anything that can convert this into another language? Er, I mean, I’m sure you have that technology, considering that I can understand you two,” I say, addressing the two Alteans.

“We do have something we’ve been using for Shiro’s hand,” Coran answers, “but you’ll have to stand on it until the conversion is complete.”

“You’re joking, right? You can’t just wire my leg up to the transcriber?” Coran shakes his head no. I sigh, and Takashi buts in.

“Seriously, you downloaded it to your leg?! Why would you do that?”

I raise an eyebrow and say, “You’ve never downloaded anything to your arm?”

“That’s different,” he says. “I can just reach out and touch something to download it. It just seems like such an awkward way to download things— with a leg, I mean.”

“Well not all of us have conveniently placed prosthetics, Takashi,” I tease, and everyone laughs a bit. “Now, where’s the transcriber? I’ll tell you everything while the data’s converting.”

~ ~ ~

After giving the paladins an abridged version of my adventures in space and standing on the transcriber for half an hour, the scan is finally uploaded. I pull up the logs on the screen and explain, “So, there’s no way I could’ve gone through this data all by myself, considering that each log is at least fifty gigabytes, and there’s thousands of them. I only download the ones from after operation Kerberos failed, then I had my leg search the files for key words such as Earth and human, as well as searching for all six of our names: Takashi, the Holts, the McClain sisters, and myself.”

I pull up my and Takashi’s results first, and Ulaz stars to point out the features of each log, including what each color means, where it says we escaped, and other cool junk. I’m surprised to find a red number printed on my photo which reads 00000001. I look over to Takashi’s log and see that he has a similar one, but it’s 00000002.

“Ulaz, what’s that red number? Because my ID number in prison was 24601, and that seems like a weird thing to mess up,” I remark. My mentor looks where I’m pointing and his eyebrows knit together in concern.

“That is your priority number. Haggar keeps a list of escaped prisoners and ranks them based on how dangerous they are to the Empire. The lower the number, the more they seek to recapture the prisoner.”

“Oh,” I say after a moment. I step away from the keyboard and plop down next to Takashi in his too-big chair, letting that sink in. “So basically, I’m number one on Haggar’s most wanted list? And Takashi’s number two?” Ulaz nods and I sigh. Takashi leans up against my shoulder and I put an arm around him.

Something occurs to me and I say, “Wait, but that makes no sense. Why would she want me more than him? I mean, he’s the goddamn black paladin, the leader of an openly rebellious group and the one in command of the only thing Zarkon fears.”

“Well, you’re the first multi-species hybrid she’s successfully created. You said you’re part Galra now, right?” I nod at Lance’s question. He then continues, “So what if she, like, made you too powerful and wants to bring you back because you’re too dangerous?”

“You make a fair point, but how would she know if I was that powerful? I was only there for like a week after the operation,” I reply.

“Well, after that stunt you pulled with the black lion back when it was captured, I bet she’s got a whole new respect for you,” Takashi says.

“What?” Allura and Ulaz speak in unison, with her looking at Takashi and Ulaz looking at me.

“Oh, right, I forgot about that,” I say. “Yeah, when I was in the Astral Plane talking to the black lion, she made me appear while Takashi and Haggar were fighting in a Galra cruiser. I shot some lasers out of my eye at her, called her a bitch, then summoned the black lion to come pick Takashi up. I meant to tell you earlier, Ulaz, but I forgot to. And I guess I forgot to tell you guys, too. Sorry. But hey, that’s not a big deal, right? I’m sure you all have strong connections with your lions and...” I trail off, realizing everyone’s staring at me. Self-consciously, I ask, “What?”

“Adam, it’s extremely difficult to communicate with our lions when we’re just outside them,” Keith says. “Especially the black lion. After that fight, Shiro was getting mauled by aliens, and the black lion didn’t even respond to him.”

“And you’re totally underselling yourself, Adam! Not only did you connect with the black lion from god knows how far away, you appeared in front of me to save me! And you scared Haggar shitless! She was terrified enough to run away and leave me— me! The black paladin of Voltron and her second most wanted!— because of you and your fancy purple paladin armor!”

At this, both Allura and Coran gasp aloud. Allura drops the cup of space tea she’s holding, and it shatters on the ground. The mice on her shoulders run over and crawl up my legs, sniffing me. “Hey, what gives?” The mice don’t stick around to answer my question, though, instead urgently scurrying back to the princess and evidently speaking to her.

She looks strangely pale as she says, “Adam. Do you know who gave you their quintessence?”

“No, I guess I always assumed it was some unfortunate soldier who got it harvested from him,” I say uneasily, not liking the tone of her voice. “But I do remember Haggar saying something about giving me ‘only the best’...”

And suddenly, it all clicks. That weird comment, the significant improvement of my senses, strength, and skill in wielding weapons from a minuscule amount of quintessence, and, most of all, why the black lion connected with me. I should’ve known that it was more than my connection with Takashi that made me appeal to the black lion. After all, who’s the only other person who can find the black lion from light years away?

“Oh my god,” I say, slumping back into the chair. I stare at the ceiling in silence for a while, unable to speak or move, completely unaware of the world around me. Finally, I feel Takashi shaking me by the shoulders and calling my name. Bleakly, I stare at him.

“Adam, what is it?”

“That quintessence— it came from the goddamn furby emperor himself, Zarkon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i thought I’d try naming some of my chapters like the Percy Jackson series, i might start doing that more
> 
> Now, you may be thinking that it’s weird and ooc that Allura suddenly trusts Adam, and I totally get that. Considering that she mistrusted keith until like s2 finale for being Galra, this may seem weird. But I promise you, there’s a reason she’s acting weird— I’m just not going to tell you what it is yet.
> 
> yeah adam can read galra  
> also he’s part king furby
> 
> The whole thing about the purple paladin armor and adam’s bond with the black lion will come together in the next chapter, which will be called the heart of voltron! 
> 
> I was on a plane all day and finished this chapter and the next one, but I’m going to post the next one tomorrow because I want to edit it more
> 
> also don’t worry, the team’ll get back to the results of Adam’s scan, they’re just a bit distracted right now
> 
> THANKS FOR READING


	13. The heart of Voltron

After that bomb dropped, I wasn’t feeling so good, as you might imagine. But fortunately for me, everyone on team Voltron is just as supportive of me as Ulaz is. Just after that revelation, Allura quickly explained that, while the mice could sense Zarkon’s quintessence in me (which is just great. I guess I’m going to have to get used to having life force which smells like an evil teenage mutant ninja turtle), my own quintessence, which is allegedly very strong, absorbed it and made it into my own.

I have no idea how that’s supposed to make any sense, so I think of it as being like the mind link between Voldemort and Harry Potter.Except apparently, Zarkon isn’t able to get in my head unless I’m in the black lion. Which is great and all, but I’d prefer it if he wasn’t in my head. At all. Ever.

Once I somewhat accept the fact that I’m part Zarkon, I ask, “So what, did Zarkon wear purple armor or something? Is that how you figured that out?

“No, the mice have always had the ability to sense quintessence. They must have remembered what his felt like, and they sensed it on you. The purple armor is a different beast entirely,” Allura says, starting to pace back and forth. “Coran, you know the story of the purple lion better than I. Would you—“

“Purple lion?! But I thought—“ Lance interrupts, but he’s interrupted by Hunk.

“There’s a sixth lion?!”

Pidge shouts, “How have we been forming Voltron this entire time?!”

“Wait, what’s going on?”

“Keith,” Lance groans, “would you stop playing with your knife and pay attention? Coran’s about to tell us about the sixth lion!”

“In Alfor’s original plans for Voltron, there were always six lions, meant for six paladins. Green, yellow, blue, red, black— and purple. The purple lion was called the ‘heart of Voltron’, and it would co-lead Voltron with the black lion, the ‘head of Voltron.’”

“Out of all of the paladins’ bonds, the one between the black and purple paladins would be the strongest,” Allura says. “While the black paladin would be a strong leader, the purple paladin would provide stability for the team and the black paladin.

“The purple lion wanted a trusting paladin, someone who saw it as more than a machine. They should also be loyal, selfless, have strong morals, and act with their heart. Not in an impulsive way, though— they should consider the needs of the team above themselves, and make decisions which can be hard for them, but are for the greater good.”

“Ah,” I say. Everyone’s looking at me, so I felt like I had to say something. But I’m not really sure how to react to this. “That kinda sounds like me.” A collective groan rises from the group.

“Adam, you fool, that sounds exactly like you,” Takashi says.

“Anyway,” Coran continues, “the purple lion was the first lion completed, but it wouldn’t bond with anyone. At first, we thought the lion didn’t work, but then, when we tried to go in to fix it, it ejected us! Boy, I was walking like Shiro is now for a couple of quintants!”

“Yeah, you are kind of walking funny today, Shiro,” Keith says. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh yeah, about that— it’s just from when I, uh, fell off the chair earlier,” he lies, then glares at me for effect. “Y’know, when you jumped up and pushed my chair over?”

Takashi and I both know that’s not the reason he’s walking funny. But the excuse he used is partially true— in the sense that I’m the cause.

“Yeah, whatever,” I say, rolling my eyes. “So the purple lion rejected everyone. What happened next?” to fall out of his.

“As the other lions were built and accepted their respective paladins, the purple lion refused to accept anyone. Eventually, it reached out to Alfor and told him that it would only ever accept one paladin, for as long as it lived, and that its paladin would not be born for millennia.

“But alas, Voltron was needed much sooner than that. So the decision was made to scrap the purple lion and use its parts in the construction of the black lion, the only lion left to be completed.”

“So that’s why Black is so much larger than the others,” Takashi murmurs.

“But it was rumored that the purple lion’s spirit lived on within the black lion, still waiting for the day when its true paladin arrived. Now, Adam,” Allura says, tapping a button on the main control panel, “if you truly are the purple paladin, you’ll need this.”

A display case pops up from the floor. Inside, there lies some weird piece of Altean tech. I’m assuming it’s one of the Bayards that the paladins told me about, but of course, it’s purple.

I walk over and pick it up, not really sure what I’m expecting. But I’m definitely not expecting my Marmoran dagger to fly into my right hand as I pick up the Bayard in my left. Both of them glow purple, and they both extend into two cutlass length swords. The one that was my dagger resembles my axe, as it has a solid bluish-purple core caged within black spiked bars, while the Bayard is a simple blade in the same color. In the distance, I hear a lion’s roar.

“So that means I’m a paladin now?” Allura nods. “Cool.”

I stare back up at the main screen and see my and Takashi’s mugshots staring back at me. “Oh, we never finished looking at the scan,” I realize, setting my dual blades down.

“Wait, you just found out you’re the secret sixth paladin, the one the purple lion— your lion— waited for for over ten thousand years, and your response is just a ‘cool’?!”

“That’s fair, Hunk,” I reply, staring at the yellow paladin, “but you have to remember that today so far, I’ve learned that one of my former students, my missing best friend’s little sister, my missing crewmates’ little brother, my own little brother, and my fiancé have all been brought together to form a giant alien robot together and have become the leaders of an intergalactic empire that I was recently imprisoned by. Also, I just learned that the ten thousand year old emperor of said empire jacked me up with his life force while I was imprisoned. This is the least weird thing I’ve heard all day— and, it actually answers some of my questions. Now, let’s see how Lance and Pidge’s family members are doing, shall we?”

With that, I pull up the results for Matt and Sam. “Oh, that’s interesting,” I say, gesturing to Matt’s prisoner profile.

On the edge of her seat, Pidge says, “What?”

“Looks like your brother escaped months ago, and he hasn’t been recaptured since. It looks like your dad is still in prison though, or he was as of three days ago. Here, I’ll send the files to your computer.”

“Got them,” she says a moment later, so I pull up Veronica and Rachel’s results.

“Oh, woah! Lance, look,” I say excitedly, “both your sisters have escaped from a nearby Galra work camp, and recently! Lance, they’ve got to be close!”

“Really?!”

“Yeah, really! Why, the camp is less than three solar systems away!”

“Well, what are we waiting for?! Let’s go find them!”

“Hold on,” Coran says, “the castle needs repairs before we can rush into another fight. Would you paladins mind fixing some things on the outside of the ship?”

“Oh! Can I join?! I mean, uh, I just really want to see how some of your guys’ tech works,” I say, trying not to sound too excited

“Well, yeah, I was talking about the six of you,” Coran says, reminding me that I’m technically a paladin now.

“The purple paladin armor is stored within the black lion in a sealed room. It should open at your presence, though.”

Takashi beams at me and says, “C’mon, Adam! You can finally meet the black lion, in person!” He grabs my arm and pulls me along behind him, and I smile back at him, thinking of how lucky I am to have him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy thanksgiving everyone!!! 
> 
> FINALLY I CAN SAY IT, THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN FORESHADOWING SINCE CHAPTER 7  
> ADAM IS A PALADIN
> 
> also, can you guess who the original purple paladin was going to be?
> 
> so yeah, Veronica and Rachel escaped!! but where could they be now? of course, I know exactly where they are, but you don’t yet, but you will know soon!
> 
> by the way, if you want to know what adam’s Bayard and blade combo look like, google “gogmazios dual blades”
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!!!!


	14. Turns out I've met the cat before

Takashi leads me through the castle, giving me a brief tour of the rooms, promising to give me a more in-depth one later. He pulls me into a small, closet sized room, and the door closes behind us. We’re suddenly very, very close together in a very, very small space.

“Uhm. Takashi,” I say, feeling my face start to heat up, “is this really a good time to—“

“Hang on,” he says, grinning, and wraps his arms around me. And, of course, the floor opens up beneath us.

I cry out, saying, “Agh— what is with Alteans and making people fall through the ground?!” Takashi lets out a wild, exhilarated laugh, and we land in the seat of something that looks like a mix between a snowmobile and a motorcycle. “You got a new hoverbike in space?”

“Yeah,” he shouts back, revving it up, “isn’t it cool?”

I wrap my arms around his waist and kiss his neck, then say, “Very sexy, babe.” His ears turn red, and the space hoverbike seals around us, shooting through the castle. It's a really smooth ride and there's no wind, unlike on Takashi's bike back home. I lean back, surprised. “Oh, so I don’t even have to hold on? Cool. Wait, you just wanted me to do the whole two-person motorcycling pose with you again, didn’t you?”

“Maybe a bit,” he responds, and I playfully punch his arm. I’m glad I didn’t punch very hard, though, because my hand comes in contact with the metal of his bionic arm.

In no time, we’ve arrived in a hangar, and there she is, looming in front of us. Takashi parks the bike and we jump out. I stare in awe at the black lion, sitting regally before us.

“Wow, it’s really her,” I exhale.

Takashi looks at me funny and says, “Her?”

“Yeah, she doesn’t have a mane, so I’m assuming she’s a girl? I dunno,” I say, turning to the lion, “do you have anything to say on the matter?”

Takashi snorts and says, “Adam, it’s just a machine. A highly advanced machine, surely, but—“

“Cover your ears, Black!” I mock gasp and walk towards the lion. She reaches her paw out and I hop on. A loud rumbling noise comes out from her as I jump off onto her head, leaning up against one of her massive metal ears.

“Adam, get down from there, it’s not safe!”

I can’t help but laugh at that statement. “Is any of what we’re doing right now safe, Takashi?”

“But Adam, it’s like a three hundred foot drop!”

Rolling my eyes, I say, “God, you still don’t use the metric system?! Besides, Black won’t let me fall. Right, kitty?” I rub my hand against her left ear, and the rumbling gets louder.

“She’s never made that noise before, Adam, what if—“

“Oh, come on, Takashi! She’s purring! You’ve never heard her purr before?!” He shakes his head no, and I sigh. Looking down at the black lion, I say, “I can see why you reached out to me. I’ll work on him, I promise, but right now, we need something from you. You don’t happen to have a purple set of armor, do you?”

At this, she lowers her snout to the ground and I slide off, landing next to Takashi. He folds his arms across his chest and glares at me. “You could’ve died,” he says. “Why would you take a risk like that?”

“Oh I dunno, but it seems slightly safer than fucking off to space with a chronic illness. But I suppose you’re right,” I say, feigning shock, “After all this time of being in space, whether in Galra captivity or joining the space mafia, I suppose I could’ve lost my balance and fallen to my death off of the giant mechanical lion that’s super protective of me. Now let’s go get that armor.”

“Asshole,” he mumbles as we walk to the black lion.

“Oh, don’t even try to say you didn’t miss this,” I reply. The black lion opens up her mouth, and I can see a purple line on the floor. “Now, shall we?” I extend my hand to him, and he reluctantly grabs it. I follow the line through the lion’s body, eventually reaching a purple door engraved with the v symbol on Takashi’s armor. I press my hand against it and it slides open.

“After you,” I say, and Takashi stomps through the door. Following him, I enter what seems like a second cockpit. Looking out of the window, we appear to be in the lion’s chest, right where the glowing blue v is. I sit down in the pilot’s seat, which suddenly jerks forwards. “Ack!”

Takashi snickers at me. I stick my tongue out at him, then turn to the control panel, which lights up at my touch.

 _Finally, you are here_.

“Oh, hey Black,” I say aloud. “You sound kinda different from the last time we talked, are you feeling okay?”

_The two of us spoke to you together previously. But now that you are here with me, I can communicate without the black lion’s support._

“Oh! You’re the purple lion! Hi!”

 _Hello, little one_ , she replies.

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” I say happily. I blink, and suddenly I’m in the Astral Plane, where a lioness sits before me. She looks like a normal lion would back on Earth except for the fact that she’s glowing, purple, and appears to be made from cosmic dust. But upon seeing her, I realize I’ve met her before. “ _Vi_?!” The lioness rubs up against me and stares up at me, purring.

You see, back when I was a kid, my favorite stuffed animal was a purple lion cub. Apparently, it once had a tag that said its name, which was Violet, but when Mom would read me the name, I’d try to repeat it but ultimately couldn’t. The only part of the word that I could say intelligibly was the first two letters, so the name “Vi” stuck. In my childhood dreams, Vi and I would explore the stars together, with me riding atop her back as she pointed out various planets, nebulae, and stars to me.

“Wait, so those dreams were real? That was you?! But how did you... uh...”

 _I possess powers which the other lions lack_.

“ADAM!” Something very cold hits my face, and I jerk upwards. I realize I’m lying on the cockpit floor, then notice a worried Takashi standing above me with an empty cup in his hand.

“Wh—“

“Oh, Adam!” He pulls me into a big hug, then says, “Out of nowhere, you fell out of your seat— I was so afraid that you wouldn’t wake up— your hands were cold as ice—“

“Takashi— ungh, can’t— breathe,” I sputter, and he finally loosens his grip a bit. His dark eyes meet mine.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Takashi,” I reply, annoyed. “I was in the middle of a conversation with the purple lion. Why’d you have to do that?”

“Well, the last time that happened to me, I saw Zarkon rushing to attack me, and I... I just...” His eyes flit around the cockpit nervously, and he draws me closer to him. He’s trembling slightly. Whatever irritation I had melts away instantly, and I hug him back.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” I say, patting his back. “Here, let’s just get the armor and go, okay? I can talk to her later.” I stand and pull him up with me. Just like that, a side wall opens up, revealing a glass tube containing exactly what we’ve been looking for.

“Thanks, Vi,” I say, opening up the tube. I take my wet shirt off and start to take the armor out, but then I remember Takashi’s right behind me. Fully aware of how buff I am and that I’m shirtless, I turn around to catch him staring. He quickly looks off to the side, blushing, and I say, “Enjoying the show?”

His blush deepens, and I laugh. “Shut up and get changed,” he replies, speedily walking out of the cockpit. “We’ve got work to do.”

~ ~ ~

I’ve got to say, I’m kind of underwhelmed by my first paladin duties. We’ve spent about three hours flying around the outside of the castle fixing different bits of it. It’s nice to see the Altean tech and how it works, but it’s pretty tedious work.

“Hey Takashi, we should recreate that one scene in Wall-e,” I say. “Y’know, the one where they’re out in space, and Wall-e has the fire hydrant, and they’re just flying around, in love and stuff?”

“Oh my god, I love that movie! Lance and I would watch it all the time in our room at the Garrison,” Hunk says, and I grin. “Yeah, we’d use that projector Lance snuck in—“ He suddenly stops, realizing who he’s talking to.

“Don’t worry, kid, I’m not going to report you,” I laugh. “Hell, you should’ve seen some of the stuff Takashi and I pulled back when we were cadets.”

“You and Shiro?! But you two are like the Garrison’s golden boys!”

“Heh, it wasn’t always that w—“

“Ugh!” Hunk’s sudden groan startles me, and I turn to him. It looks like he’s been hit with some sort of cosmic snowball. “What the—“

“Alright, we’re prepared for this,” Takashi says. I grab one of the asteroids as it flies by me and examine it. It’s soft and squishy, and I can easily pack it into a tighter ball. While Takashi’s talking, I fly over to Lance and nudge him. I pantomime throwing the asteroid and he grins, plucking one out of the group. He chucks it at Keith and Takashi, hitting the latter right in the middle of his lecture. I snort as he turns around.

“Wha—?”

“Oh, sorry, Shiro. I was trying to hit Keith.” Immediately after he says that, Lance gets hit in the face by an asteroid.

“Heh, like that?” Keith grins, grabbing another snowball. When I look at Keith’s smile, I see another’s as she thanks me for reassuring her about her son. I finally realize who that blade, Krolia, had reminded me of— the very person I’d been talking to her about. I blink, expecting the resemblance to go away, but it doesn’t.

Before I can comment on it, though, Hunk yells, “Squishy asteroid fight!” I’m pulled into a snowball fight with the paladins. It’s a ton of fun, and when we’re called in for decontamination, I almost don’t want to go. When we’re all cleaned up, I head back to my room to get changed.

“Hey, Adam! Wait up,” Keith calls out.

“Huh?” I turn to see Keith running towards me, and again I’m struck by his resemblance to Krolia. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the Blade of Marmora. Do you have a few minutes?”

“Oh, sure, I’ll go get Ula—“

“No,” he says firmly, grabbing my arm.

“But he knows more about the Blade than I do,” I protest, gently pulling my arm away.

“No! I want as few people as possible to know about this,” he whispers. “Please?”

“Alright,” I say, then lead him into my quarters. I settle on my purple bean bag while he sits on the black one awkwardly. “So, what do you want to know?”

“Everything.” Gee, thanks for being specific, Keith.

“Okay, so the Blade of Marmora is an all Galra group that’s been around for thousands of years, working to bring down the empire.”

“Are you sure it’s exclusively Galra?”

“Yeah, there’s something about having a certain quintessence signature which only Galra have that makes the luxite blades react. The only reason I got in was because I’m part Zarkon,” I say, frowning. “Which, I mean, I guess that’s a good thing. If I was sent back to Earth like Ulaz planned, I would’ve never met up with you guys here. Also, I probably would’ve been locked up by the Garrison, like you said they did with Takashi.”

“Do you think the Galra ever visited Earth?”

“Well, uh,” I say, not expecting the question, “yeah. I mean, there’s only one Galra I know of. She’s a blade, but she got stranded on Earth a while back and worked to protect the blue lion, I think. She kind of reminds me of you, actually.”

Seeing Keith’s utterly disgusted expression at my last remark, I try to backpedal. “Hey, now, I didn’t mean that in an offensive way. It’s just some of her mannerisms remind me of you… Keith?” I trail off, realizing he’s not paying attention.

He stares ahead, lost in thought until I say his name. Then he stares at me and takes a deep breath, as if he’s about to tell me something important and says, “Adam, I—“

“Guys, check this out,” Pidge’s voice says through the castle speakers.

Keith jumps up and says, “I’ll meet you down there.”

“But what were you going to say?”

“I’ll tell you later,” he says, apparently having lost his nerve. The door closes behind him and I sigh.

A few minutes later, I’m down in the control room where Coran is proudly displaying a floating cube. “What’d I miss?”

“Apparently, the spore was a distress signal, from some planet called Olkarion,” Takashi says. I gape at him and he asks, “What?”

“Olkarion?”

“Yeah, Olkarion,” he repeats, “what about it?”

“The Olkarion work camp is where Veronica and Rachel escaped from!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gonna warn you right now: shit’s gonna go down on Olkarion.
> 
> veronica and rachel? on MY olkarion? it's more likely than you think
> 
> just by the way, Adam is both a cat and a dog person, he just loves animals in general and probably had like 10 pets back on Earth
> 
> I'm going to start posting art in a separate chapter at the end of my fic! Some of it'll be mine and some of it will be others' (ofc they'll be credited), so make sure to check that out when I post it!  
> Or wait, maybe I'll make it a different work, but I'll put it in a series with this?  
> Idk, but stay tuned!
> 
> THANKS FOR READING OMFG ILY ALL


	15. Arrival at Olkarion

“What do you mean, we can’t go right now?! Those are my sisters!” Lance waves his hands in the air furiously. 

“Lonce, we haven’t even finished repairs on the castle yet. We can’t just storm a fully armed Galra prison camp.”

“Also, you paladins have been awake for over eighteen vargas. You need rest,” Ulaz says. “I can infiltrate the Galra camp unnoticed. If I may have a ship, I can travel to the surface and gather intel.”

Allura hesitates for a moment, then says, “Fine. Take one of the pods with cloaking capability. If you’re not back in twenty four vargas, we’re going to assume you’ve betrayed us.” Ulaz thanks her and leaves, waving to me as he walks out the door.

“Gee, Princess, are you actually warming up to us? Or am I hallucinating,” I joke.

Allura glares in my general direction, still not making eye contact with me, and replies simply, “He won’t try anything as long as you’re here.” Then she turns on her heel and walks out of the room with the space mice in tow, the door slamming behind her. On that note, the room starts to clear as everyone heads off to bed, but I linger a moment, wanting to speak with Lance.

“Hey, Lance, I know you’re worried about Veronica and Rachel. Hell, I am too. But if anyone can find out about them, it’s Ulaz,” I say, putting my hand on his shoulder. “And as soon as Ulaz tells us where they are, you can bet that I’m going to be hopping on the first ship to go find them.”

“Thanks,” he says, giving me a small smile in return. Then he looks down at his feet and, fidgeting, says, “Sorry for shooting you the other day.”

“Forget about it. If some intruder on my ship had a knife to Takashi’s throat, I would’ve done the same. You couldn’t have known it was me you were shooting, and you were just trying to protect Keith, I get it. But anyway, that was a hell of a shot! All that fighting was going on around you, but you still managed to shoot me right in the chest without hitting anyone else? That takes skills, hermanito,” I tell him, mussing up his hair. He grins sheepishly at me for a moment, then looks away.

“I miss them, Adam.”

“Me too, Lance. Your sisters— well, really, your entire family— you guys took me in. You gave me a sense of family I’d been missing ever since my mom died, and I can’t thank you enough for that.” I touch his shoulder again and he faces me, meeting my eyes.

“But I sure can try. Lance, I promise you, I’ll do everything in my power to get you and your sisters back together. Whatever it takes. Now, we should get some rest, we’ve got a big day ahead of us.”

I hug him, and he says, “Good night, Adam. Thank you.”

When I open the door to my room, I see Takashi lying in bed, waiting for me. He looks troubled. “Hey, babe,” I greet him, lying down beside him. “Is something wrong?” He waits a moment before responding.

“Just... what you said earlier about being turned into a robeast really bothered me. It made me think about what she could’ve done to you if you hadn’t been saved by Ulaz— especially if she figured out your connection to me.”

“Oh, well she wouldn’t do that if she knew. She’d probably use me as bait to try and capture Voltron. Sure, she’d torture me and keep experimenting on me, but I’d be kept alive— barely.” One look at Takashi’s face tells me I’m not helping, so I change gears. “But I’m here now, Takashi,” I say, cupping his face in my hands, “and I don’t intend to get recaptured.” He snuggles up against me and I kiss his forehead, running a hand through his hair.

“ _God_ , I missed you,” he whispers into my chest.

“I missed you too, Takashi,” I reply, still playing with his hair. When I fall asleep a few minutes later, I feel the most at peace I’ve felt in years.

~ ~ ~

“VERONICA! RACHEL!”

The sudden yells startle me, and I jump up, pulling out my knife. Looking around, I see that I’m in the Astral Plane again, but there’s a different lion sitting before me, with a different person calling out.

“Lance?!” At my shout, poor Lance jumps about a meter high. I squint at him, feeling like I’ve just been woken up. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Adam! I, er,” he stammers in unnaturally high pitched voice, “I was just, um, trying out the whole Astral Plane thing you were talking about! I thought that maybe if I connected more with Blue, maybe I could—“

“Use it to look for your sisters?” He nods. “Well, good job, you’re here. But why are you doing this now?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” he replies. “Also, I wanted to try to reach out to them before I...” he trails off, and I raise my eyebrows. “Before I... I go back to bed.”

“In full paladin armor, with your Bayard and a bag packed?” His shoulders slump, and I know I’m right about his intentions.

“Look, I just can’t sit around while I know they’re so close by. I know you’re probably going to stop me, but—“

“Lance, I know you too well to try and stop you. You’d just go anyway. Give me a few minutes, and I’ll meet you at the hangar.” He gapes at me, clearly not expecting that response. I grin and say, “I’m the cool one, remember? Now get a pod ready— we shouldn’t take the blue lion because they’ll know the others are nearby.”

“Got it,” he says, and both he and the blue lion blink out of existence. So that’s what waking up from the Astral Plane looks like!

~ ~ ~

Fifteen minutes later, I’m buckled in the pod’s pilot seat, steering the pod towards the planet. I’m wearing my Marmoran armor due to its cloaking capabilities and because it’s not linked with Voltron.

“So what’s the plan?”

“Uh,” Lance starts, and I immediately realize he didn’t have a plan.

“Alright,” I say, thinking, “if I were Veronica and Rachel, where would I be?” I survey the ground beneath me, which is mostly forest. But on the horizon, I notice a looming purple cube which looks suspiciously like the one Coran had, but with Galra influence. “Looks like the natives are working with the Galra now, or at least are being forced to. Knowing your sisters, they’re probably trying to free others who’ve been enslaved, so that cube is our best bet.” I land the craft in the forest and we hop out.

“Should we stick together? Since, y’know, I’m more of a ranged fighter and you don’t have a gun, I could be sorta close to you and I could cover you?” I hear a twig snap nearby, and thanks to my enhanced hearing, I can pinpoint exactly where it is. I can also hear the familiar whirring of a Galra sentry’s fan. I put my finger to my lips, then silently creep over behind a nearby tree. Its footsteps are getting louder, it’s coming right by the tree—

I jump on top of the sentry and tear it open with my axe. Sparks fly from the snapped wires, and the sentry falls to the ground. It twitches once, then is still.

“Whoa,” Lance whispers, clearly in awe. I lean down and grab the fallen sentry’s sword by the hilt, and I offer it to Lance.

“Now you’ve got a sword and a gun. I’ve got my knife and my eye, which can shoot lasers.”

“For real?!”

“Yep,” I say, smiling. “Now let’s split up. If I find them, I’ll contact you through the Astral Plane. Even if I don’t find them, I’ll still contact you hourly. Got it?”

“Got it. The coordinates of the ship are loaded into your suit too, right?”

“Yep. See you soon, Lance. Good luck.”

“Good luck to you too, Adam.” With that, he heads into the forest, disappearing into the trees. I turn cloaking on and hover above the tree line, heading in the opposite direction as Lance did.

I don’t find anything interesting in the first forty five minutes, so I land near a river, preparing to head into the Astral Plane. But I spot something weird next to the river that looks almost like a path. Curious, I sneak along it, still cloaked, until I reach a clearing.Inside of what seems like a bottomless ravine, there’s a huge city built among the trees. There are no purple lights to be found, and no Galra, either. I turn cloaking off and approach a nearby guard, who seems to be an Olkari.

“Excuse me,” I say, raising my hands to show I mean no harm. I stand in front of him for a moment, letting him inspect me. “My name is Adam, and I’m here on behalf of the Voltron Coalition. We received your distress signal.”

“You are Adam?” I nod, wondering why he’s asking that. Didn’t I just say that? But anyway, he signals for me to follow him. We walk on a massive tree root which ducks and weaves throughout the ravine, and I marvel at the structures around me. The guard explains that some Olkari evaded Galra capture and have been living in the forest ever since, where they’ve been waiting for the day their planet can finally be free. He leads to a balcony of sorts, where I notice two very familiar figures. “These two have spoken of you before.”

“Veronica? Rachel?” Both women turn to face me, surprised. I notice that Veronica has a massive burn scar along her right arm, stretching all the way to the right side of her chest, which is covered by a white tank top. Her hair has grown out a bit, particularly her bangs, and she’s gotten a new pair of glasses. Rachel’s hair has gotten longer as well, and she has a large scar across her cheek. But despite all of this, it’s still them— they’re safe and alive, and are working against the Galra!

Rachel shouts, “Adam!” Both sisters run towards me and I’m wrapped up in a giant hug. I pull them close to me, and we’re all crying, but it’s okay because we’re together, together at last.

“Adam,” Veronica finally says, wiping away a tear, “how the hell did you find us?”

“It’s a long story,” I say with a small laugh. “Your brother helped.”

“Wait, what?! One of our brothers is here?!”

“Ah, yeah, Lance is here! Have you guys ever heard of Voltron?”

“Duh,” Rachel says. “Why?”

“Well, our hermanito happens to be a paladin of Voltron,” I say, grinning.

Veronica grabs me by the shoulders (which is kinda awkward because of how much shorter than me she is) and asks, “Where is he?”

“He’s in the forest somewhere, looking for you guys. Don’t worry though, he’s got a gun and a sword I picked up from a sentry—“

“ _What_?!” Suddenly, Both Rachel and Veronica’s eyes fill with fear. Veronica runs to a nearby Olkari who seems to be their leader and starts frantically talking to her. Rachel takes my hand and starts pulling me back along the root.

“What’s the problem with that?!”

“Adam, _they have trackers in the swords!_ ”

Oh, _no._

“Rachel, hold on to me!” I leap and fire up my jetpack, flying to the pod. She screams curses at me (she hates heights, sorry Rachel) and clings to my arm desperately. We land, and I sprint to the pod, quickly firing it up.

“Adam, why the f—“

“Okay, it looks like Lance is in a satellite cube structure,” I interrupt, pulling up his suit’s coordinates on the pod’s screens. “Do you have communication with Veronica?”

“Yes. What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to drop me in. The pod can turn invisible, so you’ll be able to get me right over the area. I’ll be able to communicate with you through my suit. Tell Veronica what we’re doing, alright?”

“Why are you going in alone?!”

“There’s no time to get anyone else! Once they find out he’s a paladin, Haggar’s going to wormhole an entire fleet here and she might capture all of them!” I steer the pod over the cube and hand the controls over to Rachel. Fortunately, someone labelled every single button, pedal, and joystick in English, so she should be able to make sense of it.

“Fine. Head for the air ducts, they’ll lead you right to the prisoner area!” She opens the pod’s rear door and shouts, “Don’t die!”

“Same goes to you,” I yell back, then jump out of the pod. I fly into an air duct and ask, “Rachel, can you hear me?”

“Yeah,” her voice says through my suit. “Need something?”

“How do I get to Lance?”

“Oh, right,” she replies. “So you entered through the top left shaft, correct?”

“Looks like it.”

“Well good, that’s the one I always go through on rescue missions! So you’re gonna go straight for a bit, then take two lefts then a right. Then you’ll reach a dead end, but the main prison area will be right below you.”

“Alright, thanks. Should I come out the same way?”

“No, once they know that there’s been a breach, the vents get an electric current run through the sides which’ll fry you.” I start to crawl faster through the vent. “Don’t worry though, they shouldn’t come on until you get out. Just don’t let any sentries hear you crawling around.”

Just before I round the third corner, I hear voices up ahead. I approach the vent and peek down. There’s a large purple room with several cells, but only one is closed. It’s guarded by two sentries, who, as far as I can tell, are alone in the big room. I demask and heat up my eye, quickly disabling the sentries, then I kick the grate off the vent and fly downwards.

I hear a voice, Lance’s voice, cry for help from within the cell. At my touch (thanks, Galra genes), the door slides open to reveal a startled Lance. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like he’s been hurt except for a cut on his leg. When he sees me, he lets out a cry of relief and hugs me.

“Come on,” I say quietly, grabbing his arm, “we’ve gotta find a way out. Where’s your helmet and Bayard?”

“In here,” he says, pulling me into a small storage closet by the cells. An alarm starts blaring when the door opens, but sure enough, there they are, and he suits up.

I put my mask back on and say, “Rachel, you should be able to talk to Lance now.”

“Rachel? You found her?!”

“Hermanito! You’re alright,” she shouts joyfully.

“Not yet you aren’t,” I say impatiently. “Rachel, do you have an escape route for us?”

“Gotcha. Sending it now.”

“I’ve got it,” Lance says, and I frown. I don’t have it. But I guess it’ll take longer to get to me because the pod isn’t as compatible with my suit.

“Lead the way, Lance!” I follow him through the hallways, where galra soldiers and sentries are starting to gather. Taking off my mask, I start shooting at them with my eye as we run, but there’s just too many of them. Reinforcements keep flooding in, and I realize what I have to do. I take a deep breath and whisper to myself, “The mission comes first. And your mission is to protect the paladins.” I put my knife in Lance’s bag then shout, “Keep going, Lance! I’m right behind you!”

As soon as I see him leave the room I’m in, I jump up on the nearest bench and shout, “HEY! I’m Haggar’s missing Champion, the one with a fifty quadrillion GAC bounty on my head! Come and get me!”

My plan works, as all the Galra stop chasing Lance and start to chase me. I run in the opposite direction as him with a swarm of troops following me, but not shooting at me. No, they want me alive— it’s only if I’m returned to Haggar alive that they get the reward. I put my mask back on and shout, “Lance! What’s your status?”

“I’m at the ship! But where are you?!” I look around, realizing that I’m lost, the escape route never downloaded, and the Galra troops just keep coming for me, and I know I’m not leaving on that ship.

“Rachel, go! Now!”

“What?! Adam, no, we aren’t going to leave you,” Lance cries out.

“We’ll come back for you, Adam! I promise,” Rachel yells.

“Wait, what are you— Rachel, no! No! We can’t leave him! Rachel, stop it! Let me out of this pod, I—“ Unable to listen to Lance’s hysteric sobs any longer, I demask and let myself be surrounded by the Galra.

I hold up my hands and say, “I’m Adam Shirogane, Champion of the Arena and Haggar’s most wanted. I surrender.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEAAAAAAAAAA VERONICA AND RACHEL HAVE BEEN LEADING THE REBEL CHARGE ON OLKARION!!!! You'll learn about them more in the next chapter, which'll be narrated by Lance!!!!!!!!!
> 
> can i get an f in chat for adam  
> he's not dead yet, he's just recaptured
> 
> THANKS FOR READING PLEASE FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER (@formtroyboltron) I'LL FOLLOW YOU BACK  
> I CRAVE INTERACTION


	16. Mis hermanas: Lance

I should be happy right now. I’m finally with my sisters, which is the whole reason I stayed with Voltron. I’d hoped that by going to space, I could find out what happened to them. And here they are, right in front of me. My two very own sisters, Veronica and Rachel, right here with me. When things got rough in the Garrison or out here in space, I’d console myself by imagining this moment. Now it’s actually here, I’m living that moment, but I can only feel one thing: guilt. I stare down at the knife Adam left with me and twirl it between my fingers.

“Hey,” Rachel says, taking the blade from me, “it’ll be alright. We’re going to get him back.” She hugs me for like the thirtieth time, then changes the bandage on my leg. Rachel goes to talk to Veronica, but comes back to the bed instead.

“So what happened to you?” She swings her feet as she sits with me, and her gray eyes scan the floor.

“Well, see, we were on our way to Kerberos, and everything was going great. We were flying by Saturn, Veronica geeked out about the hexagonal storm at its north pole, and I went to sleep with the ringed planet out the craft’s window.

“When I woke up, Veronica and I were in a different ship. We were both tied up and Adam was nowhere to be found. I was really scared. Veronica told me what had happened— that they’d taken our ship, made a decoy and blew it up, leaving it in the orbit of Saturn, and that Adam had been taken to some sort of gladiator arena.

“Then a few Galra troops came to get us. We were both led to individual rooms where we were tested. It was fairly simple stuff— puzzles, basic science and math, and all that jazz, and based on my results, I was to work on Olkarion. To my relief, Veronica was assigned to Olkarion too, and we were put in the same ship together.”

“Are you telling him our story?” Veronica steps through the doorway, holding a tray of food. She distributes it among the three of us and I take a bite. It’s a lot better than the food goo (no offense, Hunk), and it tastes a bit like home.

“Yeah, I’m just at the part where the Galra brought us here. You wanna tell him how you got that scar?”

“Alright. So we get off the ship, and I see an opportunity to escape. I waited until the guard was distracted, then threw a rock at some crystals I saw nearby. But these aren’t just any crystals, no— they’re nitrogen triiodide. Thanks, Mrs. Raymond, wherever you are now, for doing a lab with nitrogen triiodide in chem class!

“So anyway, I was right (as always), and the crystals exploded! A purple cloud of smoke was released from them, and everything would’ve been fine if I’d remembered about the actual explosion,” she says, then grins at me. “Kinda a stupid oversight, huh?”

“No kidding,” I reply with a laugh. “And this was...?”

“A little over six phoebs ago. I think a phoeb is about a month?”

“Yeah, that’s what Allura said. She’s an alien I met,” I add. “So what happened next?”

“Well, Veronica’s escape attempt was an utter failure, and she was put in recovery for a couple of weeks. I made a few friends among the Olkari prisoners, and they started to teach me about their technology and culture. Specifically, they talked of their king, Lubos, who’s been held by the Galra for deca-phoebs in a top security prison.”

“That’s probably where they’re keeping Adam now, too,” Veronica says thoughtfully. She’s got that look in her eye that she gets when thinking up a plan. She grabs a nearby tree branch and stares at it, frowning. I watch, amazed, as it takes the shape of a Galra surveillance drone, lights up purple, then flies out of the room.

“How the hell did you do that?!”

“It’s a trick the Olkari taught us. We used it to escape, actually— there was a group of ten, and we all made a break for the forest. Once we made it to the trees, we were able to create wooden golems which held the Galra back. We found the rebels out here, and the rest is history.”

“So what happened to you? Adam said you’re a paladin of Voltron— was he just pulling my leg or are you actually...?” I nod, grinning at Rachel, and she jumps up and grabs Veronica, who’s also very excited. “Our hermanito is a paladin! He’s growing up so fast!”

“Rachel, I’m seven minutes younger than you,” I remind her, glowering. “Do you really have to call me that?”

“Hermanito,” she insists, and I roll my eyes. I then proceed to tell them everything that’s happened from when they left up until Adam and I snuck out here.

“So wait, the team doesn’t know you’re here?” _Oh, mierda_.

“Er... how long has it been since you guys brought me back here?” 

“Six vargas,” Rachel replies. I groan and hold my head in my hands. They’ve gotta be awake by now, and they’re gonna be really angry. Especially Shiro...

“Do you guys mind coming back with me? I’m kinda scared to tell them about, er, the whole Adam situation,” I say.

“Don’t worry, hermanito, we’ve got your back,” Veronica says reassuringly.

“Ooh! Are we gonna get to see the lions?! I really want to see how they— uh, I mean,” Rachel stops when she notices Veronica glaring, “we totally support you, Lance! Now let’s go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s a short chapter, I know— but hey! It’s Veronica and Rachel! And Rachel is Lance’s older twin, by seven minutes! 
> 
> y’all ulaz is boutta go off in the next chapter he’s gonna be pissed  
> not at lance tho
> 
> Here’s a short timeline of what happens in this day and in what order!
> 
> 0:00: Adam meets Lance in the Astral Plane  
> 1:00: Lance and Adam sneak out  
> 1:30: Lance is captured  
> 1:45: Adam discovers the Olkari hideout  
> 2:15: Adam is captured/Lance is rescued  
> 3:00: Ulaz, who’s at the construction site (NOT the prison block) gets word that something’s happened at the prison, but nothing specific. All the galra at the construction site assume that it’s just another Olkari effort to try and rescue Lubos, so Ulaz assumes it’s that as well.  
> 6:00: Ulaz leaves the prison camp  
> 7:00: Ulaz arrives back at the castle  
> 9:00: Lance arrives back at the castle
> 
> Hope that helps clarify some stuff a bit! So yeah, Ulaz doesn’t know that Adam’s been captured, and nobody knows what happened between Adam and Lance or why they left. This is gonna be fun. ;)
> 
> THANKS FOR READING


	17. I really hate this plan, but I’ll go along with it because it makes sense: Shiro

I wake up alone. At first, I think Adam’s just gone to breakfast or something, but I realize the sheets next to me are cold. When I get up, I notice his suit and knife are gone, so he’s probably down in the training room.

I get dressed and start to head down there, but on the way, I pass by the control room, where I hear voices. Curious, I peek in. It seems all the others have woken up before me except Lance. Adam’s not there, either, but it looks like Ulaz has returned.

“Hey, have you guys seen Adam?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Allura says harshly. Surprised by the anger in her voice, I look over at her. She points up to the screen and I see Lance and Adam taking a pod and leaving the castle. I notice the timestamp on the footage and realize this was over six hours ago.

“Wait, what?! Why would they—“

“Why do you think, Shiro?! Your Galra husband snuck off in the middle of the night and persuaded Lonce to come with him. Adam must’ve gone back to the Galra and turned Lonce in!”

“You’re joking,” I say. “You really think Adam would side with them, after all they’ve done to him?”

“Well, uh, the thing is, Haggar might’ve messed with Adam’s mind. It’s still a very real possibility,” Hunk says nervously, not meeting my eyes. “Like, I know Adam would never want to betray us, but what if Haggar mind controlled him? And through him, she was all like, ‘Grrrr blue paladin, come with me or else I’ll hurt your family’?”

“Okay, that’s a fair point,” I reply, and Hunk sighs in relief.

“Phew, I was so nervous you’d freak out at me saying that! Because you know that Adam was like my favorite teacher at the Garrison, and I trust him—“

“But why?! He’s a Galra!” Ulaz shifts uncomfortably, looking like he’s trying to hold his tongue.

“Allura, I know how you feel about the Galra, but please, be reasonable,” I remark, trying to keep her from pissing Ulaz off. “Surely not all Galra are evil, right? See, we have Ulaz, who’s been h—“

“Who ratted us out to Zarkon back at the Galra base!”

“ _Enough_!” Ulaz stands, slamming his hands on the table. The whole room goes quiet, then he speaks again. His voice is barely more than a whisper, but he commands the room.

“Princess. I have tolerated your ignorant attitude thus far in hopes of establishing an alliance with Voltron. But if you continue to treat allies this way, you will find yourself alone in this war. I did not ‘rat you out’ to Zarkon, and I am not loyal to him. My family was ruthlessly slaughtered by commander Sendak on his orders decades ago. I was the only one who escaped.”

“Oh,” Allura says, staring down meekly. “I’m sorry.”

“And Adam did not betray you for them, he has suffered far too much at the hands of the Empire. In fact, soon before I left the station, I received news that there was a disturbance at the prison camp which was blamed on some Olkari rebels. But now that I know Adam and the blue paladin are on Olkari, is it not reasonable to assume they had a hand in the prison break?”

Allura nods, still staring at her feet, and the others murmur in agreement. Just then, the monitor beeps and we all jump a bit. I can feel the tension in the room release a bit when it shows the missing pod is hailing us. Coran, who’s been awkwardly fidgeting for this whole conversation, gladly accepts the call. Three concerned-looking figures pop up on the screen, but none of them are the one I’m looking for.

“Lance!” Keith looks very relieved to see the other boy, and I chuckle a bit.

“I’m assuming you two are Veronica and Rachel, then?” The sisters nod at Pidge’s question. “Oooh, you have to tell me all about the engineering on this planet!”

“We will, but we’ve no time for chitchat,” Veronica says grimly, and again I notice Adam’s absence.

Uneasy, I ask, “Where’s Adam?” All three of the McClains look away from the camera, and I start to feel dread in the pit of my stomach. “Where’s Adam,” I repeat, more forcefully this time. It’s Veronica who finally answers me.

“Adam’s been taken by the Galra.”

~ ~ ~

The next thing I know, I’m sitting in my control room chair with the paladins, including Lance, surrounding me. They talk in hushed voices, as if trying not to disturb me.

Keith is the first one to notice me. “Here,” he says, handing me some water, “you need to drink.” My mouth feels like cotton, so I gladly accept.

After a few small sips, I say, “What happened?”

“You blacked out,” Hunk says. “It was weird, you just like, fell over. You didn’t make any noise or anything, or give any indication that you were going down. It was right after Veronica told you about Ad—“

In unison, the other paladins whisper, “Shhhh!” But it’s too late— with a jolt, I remember everything. I leap up, much to the others’ concern, trying to run to my lion, but I’m easily stopped by the four others.

“Let me go!”

“No, Shiro—“

“—can’t just rush in—“

“—have a plan—“

“If you rush in, they might kill him!” That’s what finally stops me from struggling. I turn and look at Ulaz, the one who said that. “I hate this situation as much as you do, but we cannot risk making things worse. Veronica, tell him our plan.”

“Alright, so, I sent in a spy drone and programmed it to find Adam and then start recording what’s happening to him.”

“Won’t he just be sitting in his cell? How’s he going to know what’s going to happen?”

“I think you’re overestimating Commander Branko’s ability to think logically,” Veronica says with a smirk. “He’s really arrogant and loves to feel power over others. What better way of doing that than telling Adam what’s going to become of him?”

“Also, Branko is a disgraced Commander, and he wants nothing more than to get back in Zarkon’s central fleet. He was all too eager to report that he has singlehandedly captured the most wanted man alive,” Ulaz says.

“And you can bet he had Adam right there with him,” Rachel adds. “Ulaz told us about the bounty on Adam’s head. Haggar probably gets a lot of calls saying that someone’s found Adam— whether they’re looking for the honor, the money, whatever— so he needed to prove to her that this is the real deal.”

“Alright, so where’s the drone footage?”

“It downloaded to our drive while Lance, Rachel and I were flying to the castle. We’ve watched it, and Adam’s going to be brought to Haggar in another Galra Commander’s ship. He’s really heavily guarded in the prison, so our best chance of getting him back is going to be when he’s being transferred.”

“When’s that going to be?”

Rachel takes a deep breath and says, “Three quintants.” I inhale sharply. “Look, I know—“

“Do you? Do you really? Because if you did, you wouldn’t want to leave him there for three fucking days and let them do God knows what to him—“

“We have no other choice! As soon as the prison starts to get attacked, especially by something like Voltron, Branko’s gonna grab Adam and hightail it back to Zarkon. Even worse, that super-weapon Branko’s been using the Olkari to build is ready to fire, and he could destroy the whole planet with it! So if we rush in, Olkari will be destroyed, Adam’ll most likely be back in Haggar’s hands, and the Galra will have this huge, planet-destroying weapon!”

What they’re saying makes sense, but I don’t want to just leave Adam to fend for himself. At the same time, I feel like if Adam were here, he’d be telling me to accept their plan.

“Fine,” I mutter. “Now give me the footage.”

“Wha—“

“I want to know exactly what’s going on down there.” I place my bionic arm on the transcriber, staring at Veronica. “Give it to me.” Hesitantly, she sends the file to my arm. Once it downloads, I turn on my heel and walk out of the room.

~ ~ ~

I pace back and forth in my and Adam’s room. It’s strange, how he’s only really been here for a day, but it’s our room now. See, I didn’t really have it decorated before, so all of Adam’s junk is in the room now. I don’t mind though— it makes it feel more like home.

Finally, I take a deep breath and settle down on our bed, wrapping Adam’s left-behind leather jacket around me. I pull up the holographic screen on my arm and, after a moment, I select the file Veronica sent and open it.

Immediately, my heart leaps into my throat. Adam’s been stripped of his Marmoran armor and is wearing Galra prison pants and boots. His hands are cuffed behind his exposed back, which is covered in red welts and fresh wounds. He’s kneeling on the ground with his head hanging limply, and it looks like there’s some sort of device on his leg. There’s a Galra Commander next to him, who I’m assuming to be Branko, and they’re standing in front of a big screen.

Haggar appears on screen, looking annoyed. “Hey boss, I’ve got a surprise for you,” Branko says. I can see his cruel smile in the bottom corner of the screen, then he grabs Adam by his hair and jerks his head upwards.

I let out a cry when I see my poor Adam’s face. They’ve got him in a Galra muzzle, much like the one I was forced to wear— the one that gave me the scar on my nose. His left eye is swollen shut— probably because they don’t want him shooting out of it, I realize. Adam’s open eye is glazed and unfocused until he sees who’s on the screen, then it widens in fear. He starts to squirm against the cuffs until Branko hits him hard on the back of the head.

Haggar and I cry in unison, “No!” Angrily, she hisses, “Do not damage what might be my Champion, you incompetent fool!”

“Whaddaya mean, ‘might’ be your Champion?! Can’t you tell this is him?!”

“While it does look like him, I cannot be certain. He must be inspected before you can claim the reward for him.” Branko looks like he’s about to say something, but Haggar stops him. “I will send Commander Sendak to your location. He will arrive in three quintants, so be prepared.” With that, Haggar ends the call. Branko looks at Adam, clearly annoyed, and slaps him. Still holding Adam by the hair,Branko pulls him up so they’re at the same height.

“You listen, now,” he snarls. “Sure, you may be important to Haggar, but here, you follow my rules. If your little friend in blue comes back and tries to rescue you, I have no problem staging a little ‘accident’ for him or you. Even if you die, I’m still gonna get a ton of reward money and my position back in Zarkon’s fleet. So don’t even think of trying to escape or contacting your friends if you wanna live. Got it?” Adam nods, looking frightened. “Also, if you’re not who you say you are, I’m gonna personally make sure you have a slow, painful death.” He releases his grip on Adam, who falls to the floor limply. I can see him trembling as he lies there, helpless.

“Now get him out of my sight,” Branko says, addressing four Galra guards. They eagerly grab him and start to drag him away. “Don’t have too much fun with him, now— we want to have something to give to Haggar.”

The video ends, and I’m left lying on my bed, alone in Adam’s jacket. I can feel tears streaming from my eyes, but inside, I just feel shock.

The most shocking thing is that Sendak is alive. I thought that when I’d ejected him into space, he’d die. But I guess Zarkon must’ve recovered him somehow and now he’s back in business. I start to get nauseous as I remember how it felt when he’d captured Lance and me and was torturing me, crushing my chest with his bionic hand. Against my own will, I start to imagine the same happening to Adam. In my mind, I see him struggling against Sendak, crying out for me as electricity courses through his body, his lips turning blue as he slowly stops squirming—

I run to the Altean toilet in my room and empty the contents of my stomach into it. Breathing heavily, I wipe my mouth and start to sob, right there in the bathroom. I pull at my hair with my real hand and slam my bionic fist against the wall over and over, thinking of how unfair it all is.

Once I start to recover a bit, I walk back over to the bed, where Adam’s jacket is lying abandoned, and I lose it all over again. I bury my face into the jacket and ball it up into my mouth, where I scream wordlessly, again and again, until I can scream no more.

I stay like this, curled up in the fetal position with the jacket on my face until I hear a knock at my door. Quickly, I wipe my eyes, clear my throat, and put the jacket on, then I open the door.

“Ulaz,” I say, surprised. The Galra stands before me, and I realize, self-consciously, how much of a mess I must look like. “Er— I was just— I wasn’t crying, I—“

“I understand,” he says softly. “There is no need to be ashamed of crying. It is not a show of weakness, it shows you have compassion, and it is a perfectly normal thing to do. Even us Galra need to cry sometimes,” he reassures me. I smile a bit at him, then sit back down on my bed. He joins me.

“I know everyone’s probably worried I’m going to run off and go try and save Adam by myself now. But even though I hate every second that he’s there, I realize now it’s best to wait. If we don’t, he might end up dead.”

“But you do not like the plan. Neither do I,” he says before I can interrupt. “I witnessed what Haggar did to Adam, and I am not eager to see him go through that again.” He stares at the wall and I remember something.

“You’re the one who rescued him, right?” Ulaz nods. “Thank you,” I say simply. Feeling like I should say more, I add, “I don’t really know how to repay you for everything you’ve done for us, but—“

“You already have,” he replies. “Voltron has given the universe hope that this war might finally end. And Adam has given me hope to see what the future brings. He is like the son I never had.”

In a sudden burst of emotion, I reach over and hug Ulaz. He seems surprised at first, but then he wraps his arms around me comfortingly.

“We will find him, Shiro. He will be alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boy, this is gonna be interesting
> 
> that Ulaz and Shiro bonding at the end!!!! this is what I live for!!!
> 
> The next chapter is gonna be about Keith and Lance, and what they’re doing to prepare for the rescue operation. And in the chapter after that, the day finally comes when Sendak’s ship arrives!! Will Adam get brought back to alien jail, or will our heroes be able to rescue him? you’ll have to wait and see ;)
> 
> also, a character we haven’t seen for a while is going to make a reappearance here soon! I think you’ll be happy ;)
> 
> I’m going to do a holiday mini-fic for this au where Adam teaches the blades about Christmas!!!! It’s gonna be a whole lot of fun, so stay tuned!
> 
> THANKS FOR READING ILY ALL
> 
> and follow me on Twitter pls @formtroyboltron


	18. Friends: Keith

“Alright, so the plan is simple. Hunk and I will go into the big cube weapon and try to disable it from within. Shiro’s gonna try to connect with Adam through the black lion while Allura, Coran, and Veronica work on repairing and strengthening the castle. Rachel, Lance, and Keith, you’ll need to go down to the planet. You guys’ll rally the Olkari rebels and let them know our plan, we’ll need their help to rescue Adam.”

Pidge’s plan sounds alright, but there’s one person unaccounted for. “What about Ulaz?”

“Ulaz is going to be in the black lion with me,” Shiro replies. “He’s going to help me with the whole Astral Plane thing.”

“Oh,” I say, slightly disappointed. Since Adam’s not here anymore, I was thinking of asking Ulaz about my blade, but I guess I’ll have to do it later. “Alright, let’s go. I’ll get Red ready.”

“I think we should take Blue,” Lance says. “After all, the Galra might’ve figured out that I was the blue paladin. So if we take the blue lion and she gets caught, they’ll just think I’m here on a solo mission.”

“Good idea, Lance.” Of course it’d be better to take Blue, what was I thinking? Shiro looks over at me and raises his eyebrows. I glare back at him and, rolling my eyes, I follow Lance and Rachel to the blue lion.

Eagerly, Lance shows his sister around the lion’s cockpit, demonstrating the controls, storage capabilities, and communication systems. I can’t help but smile during this whole process because I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lance so happy. Maybe someday, in the future, I’ll be able to make him that happy...

Man, I’ve got it bad.

Finally, Lance leads Blue out of the hangar and into space. In no time, we’re on the surface of the planet where Rachel told us to land. A horde of Olkari surround the lion, weapons raised.

“Hey guys, it’s me,” Rachel says into the broadcasting system. “I brought back some help.”

~ ~ ~

“So Lubos is a traitor after all?!” Rachel nods at Reyner’s question, sighing and shaking her head.

“Yeah, he’s just sitting in the Galra living quarters, stuffing himself and watching reality TV. Occasionally they’ll ask him to get on camera and act like he’s being hurt. I know it’s hard to believe, but we’ve gotta move on without Lubos.” Rachel has been talking with the Olkari for almost an hour now while Lance and I have just sat here. Fortunately for me, there’s a sort of tablet for note taking in front of me, and I’ve been using it to draw.

“Woah, dude, did you draw that?!” I jump and quickly cover the tablet with my arms, not expecting Lance’s question. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he apologizes, “I just saw it and thought it was really good. Do you mind if I look? And it’s totally okay if you say no, I respect your privacy and all that—“

“Go ahead,” I say, handing him the tablet. His eyes widen as he realizes who the drawing is of and I laugh.

“You drew me?! Keith, that’s so cool! Where’d you learn to draw like this?!”

“I, uh, had a lot of free time growing up, between the orphanage and then living alone in the desert.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Thanks.” We’re quiet for a bit, afraid to break the silence between us. I lean back and listen to Rachel talking to Rayner about some sort of weird technology I don’t understand.

I push my chair back and stand. “I’m gonna get some fresh air,” I explain, walking out of the room. Stepping out onto the massive tree root walkway, I sigh and pull out my knife. Now that I know more about the Blade of Marmora, I’m not as afraid of having it. But I have so many questions that I’m too afraid to ask, and too afraid to have answered.

I hear Lance approaching and quickly put the knife away. “Hey,” I say awkwardly, turning.

“Hey,” he replies. He runs a hand through his short hair and sighs, leaning on the railing. “D’you think he blames me? Shiro, I mean.” I stare blankly at him, not understanding. After noticing my confusion, he says, “So you don’t know?” I shake my head.

“I was the one who got myself captured. Adam came and rescued me, but sacrificed himself so I could escape. I— I tried to go back for him, but by the time I realized he wasn’t behind me...” He sighs and stares into the distance. “It’s my fault that Adam’s been taken. I messed up, Keith.”

“Well maybe you did, maybe you didn’t,” I say, “but that doesn’t matter now. All we can do is try to fix it now, right? Lance, look at me.” Slowly, his blue eyes meet mine. They’re full of shame, guilt, and grief. “We all mess up sometimes—“

“Me more than others,” he mutters, then says, “Keith, I shot Adam a couple days ago and now he’s in prison because of me. I just keep failing him— and the team, too. What if I’m not supposed to be a paladin?”

“What?”

“I mean, it seems like everyone on the team has a thing. Shiro’s the leader, you’re the lone wolf—“ Thanks, Lance. “—Pidge and Hunk are the smart ones, and Allura’s the level-headed one who brings the whole team together. But maybe— maybe I don’t have a thing,” he says, shoulders slumping.

I reach over to him and say, “Lance, what are you talking about? The blue lion chose you. That can’t be an accident.”

“What if it made a mistake?”

“It didn’t. If you weren’t supposed to be here, you’d already be dead. Lance, there’s no one else I’d rather have as paladin. I know we’re supposed to be rivals or whatever but... I appreciate everything you do for the team, and I really respect you as a person.”

“Man, you’re the last person I expected that to come from,” he says with a laugh, then smiles at the ground. “Thanks,” he adds after a moment. We stand there in silence as one of the stars Olkari orbits starts to rise, enjoying the view.

“Hey there, you two,” says a voice behind us. Rachel walks up besides Lance and leans on the railing. “Pretty sunrise, isn’t it? Looks kinda like the ones back on Earth.”

“I suppose. You got anything for us to do?”

“Yep! We’re gonna need you two to help gather some resources. I’ll come with you, of course, but some of the stuff we need is in kinda contested areas. Here’s a map of where we need to go,” she says, pulling up a 3D hologram of the planet. There are red dots in various places across the model, each one marking a different thing we need.

“Okay, so all in all, this is gonna take us about two quintants. We’re gonna start with the far side of the planet, on the other side of the mountains, then work our way back here from there. Whenever you guys are ready, I’m ready.”

“Alright, cool. Keith and I will meet you down at the blue lion in a few.”

“Okay. And by the way, Keith, you’re really cute.”

“RACHEL!”

“Oh come on Lance, I’ve been stuck in alien prison with my sister and was stuck in a spaceship with her and Adam for months. Why can’t I flirt with someone cute?”

“Because it’s Keith!” Lance stares me down. So much for the moment we shared earlier.

“Er, I’m sorry to disappoint you Rachel, but, I um, don’t like girls that way. If you were a guy, though, you’d be exactly my type.” Rachel stares over at Lance pointedly, and they seem to have a whole mental conversation through their eyes. Siblings seem to be weird like that.

“I hope you’re not offended,” I say, confused. I’ve never had anyone react to me coming out this way.

“Of course not! Sorry if my flirting made you feel uncomfortable, I didn’t mean it that way. And I’m bi, so it’s not like you being gay would offend me. Can we be friends?”

“Uh, sure?” Usually, people don’t ask me to be their friend. In fact, this is a first for me. 

“Awesome! I’ll meet you two down at the blue lion! And you two take as much time as you need!” With that, she runs back into the tree, and Lance and I are left on the balcony.

“Uh... what just happened?”

“She just happened,” Lance sighs.

“Um, you’re not... mad at me, are you?”

“Nah. That’s really the best thing you could’ve done in that situation, and I respect that you didn’t lie just to break her heart later. I didn’t know you were gay, though.”

“Most people don’t,” I reply. “It’s not exactly something I like to broadcast about myself. I guess I kind of let my guard down for a moment there because of what we were talking about, sorry.”

“Don’t be. It makes you more human.” He offers his hand to me and says, “Friends?”

“Friends,” I repeat, shaking his extended hand. Even though I eventually want to be more, being his friend is progress. I can’t help but smile to myself as we walk down to the lion, repeating that word in my mind:

Friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in other words, kick
> 
> I PROMISE WE’LL GET TO SEE ADAM IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!!! I KNOW I DROPPED THAT BOMB OF HIM GETTING TAKEN LIKE A WEEK AGO AND I HAVEN’T RESOLVED IT YET BUT HHHHHHHHH I WANTED SOME OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS TO GET DEVELOPMENT AND REACT TO HIM BEING GONE I’M SORRY REEEEEEEEE
> 
> keith: you’d be exactly my type if you were a guy  
> rachel, internally: oh my god  
> lance, internally: oh my god
> 
> i’m not gonna write about the next couple of days where they’re gathering stuff but it’s basically just rachel thirdwheeling these two oblivious fools
> 
> there’s gonna be a big reveal next chapter!!!!! prepare thyselves
> 
> THANKS FOR READING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	19. Rescue

It’s been three long, painful days. I would’ve thought it to be longer since I was taken captive, but Branko constantly updated me on when Sendak would be arriving.

To be honest, I really don’t like Branko. He’s a suck-up, and if I had to be captured by any Galra commander, I wouldn’t want it to be him. His guards are brats too, doing whatever they want with me whenever they want to.

But hey, at least this didn’t happen to Lance. They didn’t find out Voltron was here, and that was the goal.

I’m a bit disappointed in them though. I know it’s probably better that they didn’t, but I was thinking, hoping they’d try to rescue me. That I’d be worth rescuing. The Galra threatened that I’d be killed if a rescue attempt was made, but when none were, they ridiculed me endlessly. But at least this didn’t happen to anyone else.

These thoughts run through my mind as I’m escorted out of the prison. But when I reach the exit, I suddenly sense the purple lion, whose presence has been blocked for the past couple of days. A small spark of hope lights up within me, thinking that I might be rescued after all, but I quickly dismiss it. It’d be suicide to try and rescue me now, right?

Suddenly, there’s a loud bang, and the guards on my left are consumed by a well-aimed bolt of blue light. I leap back and take this opportunity to disarm a startled guard to my right. Then I duck for cover behind a nearby rock as chaos ensues, scrambling to take the arresting bracelet off my Galra leg. Luckily for me, Branko was so confident nothing would go wrong that he didn’t handcuff me, so I’m able to pop the bracelet off and exchange fire with the guards shooting at me.

I’m grabbed from behind by a Galra soldier who presses his blade to my throat. He starts to drag me towards Sendak’s ship, but he’s forced to duck when something swoops just above us, firing at the Galra cruiser. He drops me and I scramble to my feet. I look around and see Olkari rebels swarming the base, fighting off hordes of Galra soldiers.

Above me, the Castle of Lions is bombarding the command center while four of the lions try to attack Sendak’s ship. The black lion is circling above the battlefield, presumably looking for something— or someone. I whistle loudly, the same way I did when I was in the Astral Plane, and the lion turns to me. She starts to fly to me and I run to her, ducking and weaving through crossfire. The lion lands, opening her mouth, and I see Takashi reaching out to pull me in. I’m so close, our fingers are almost touching—

A crushing force wraps around my chest and for a split second, I can see the sheer terror on Takashi’s face. Then I’m yanked through the air, kicking and screaming. Glancing down, I notice that it’s a giant bionic hand that’s wrapped around me and in an instant, the hand returns to the Galra ship where its owner grins cruelly at me. The ship lifts off the ground, and I watch, helpless, as the hangar doors I just flew through close.

“My, my,” Sendak murmurs, chuckling as I squirm in his grasp, struggling to breathe. “You certainly have spirit. Maybe you are the real Champion, after all.”

“Bitch... I might... be,” I choke out, making him laugh harder. Something pops out of one of his fingers and I feel a sharp pinch in my arm. “Se...dat—“

“No, not sedative. I am drawing your blood to make sure it is truly you. But before we go into hyperdrive, I can test you in another way.” Another needle pricks my arm and injects me with something. Finally he lets me go, and I fall to the floor, gasping for air.

I stare down at the polished black floor and notice my reflection. I have a black eye now and I seem a bit thinner than before, but there’s nothing hugely different about me. It doesn’t look like Sendak’s injection worked. I look back up at Sendak, confused.

“Er, just curious,” I wheeze, voice breathy, “but what was that injection supposed to do?”

“It stimulates a certain gene you possess. This gene was dormant within you when Haggar found you, and she struggled to believe it when she found it in your genome. And as you appeared to have no knowledge of what you are, she thought it was a mistake. But when she tested you with this stimulant, sure enough, the trait appeared. Just as it has now.”

I look back down and my jaw drops. Two crescent moon shaped marks have appeared on my skin, just below the corners of my eyes. When I was younger, I had birthmarks in the same position, but they faded around the time I was six or seven. But now they’re back, and they’re glowing purple.

“I... I don’t understand,” I stammer. Sendak’s grin widens.

“It is nice to finally meet you in person, Altean.”

 

**** Part 2: Shiro ****

I desperately chase down the Galra cruiser, knowing that if it goes into hyperdrive, he’ll be gone. But I’m losing ground rapidly, even at maximum speed. I see the ship start to glow purple, indicating that it’s starting the jump.

“No,” I whisper. I push harder on the lion’s thrusters, but they don’t budge. The purple light glows more intensely as the ship starts to accelerate even faster, and I can see my chances of saving him fading into the light. “No, no, NO!”

Suddenly, I feel the presence of the two lions, black and purple, besides me and then we’re united. I become the black lion, hurdling through space, and I can feel a pair of wings form on my back. We charge the wings up and, using all of our energy, fly right through the side of the Galra cruiser into the hangar seconds before it goes into hyperdrive.

I’m back in the pilot’s seat and I know what I have to do from here. The purple lion has locked on to Adam’s location and sent me that information telepathically. I stand and go to leave the cockpit, but I hesitate for a moment. “Thank you,” I say, hoping the lions can hear me. Then I rush out of the lion’s mouth and head towards the prison block.

It seems like I snuck in unnoticed, as no guards come rushing to stop me. Which seems kinda weird, but I guess I did just phase through the door without damaging it at all. But hey, I’m not complaining.

I know the sentries’ routine well, so I easily avoid them as I make my way through the ship. I pass an open door quickly, then backtrack as I realize what I saw. Adam’s Marmoran armor sits neatly folded on a prep table. I scan the room and when I’m sure it’s empty, I snatch his armor up in my arms.

When I reach his cell, I press my Galra hand against the keypad and the door slides open. I rush inside and there he is, head hung in despair. Setting the armor on the floor, I put my Galra hand over his mouth and force him to look up at me with my other. His good eye widens, and I notice the glowing purple Altean marks under his eyes.

Before I can ask him about them, an alarm starts to blare loudly. Quickly, I cut through his cuffs with the bionic hand. He touches his armor and suddenly he’s all suited up, and I hand him his knife. Then I take his right hand in mine and start to sprint towards the hangar.

As we run, I shout, “What the hell happened to your face?”

“Oh, you’re hilarious, Takashi. Making fun of my black eye—“

“No, not that! Those markings on your face, are those—“ We turn a corner and eight sentries fire at us. I summon my shield and try to pull Adam behind it, but he slides out from behind me and I watch, amazed, as he takes out all eight sentries by himself. I’m still gaping at him when he grabs my hand and starts pulling me through the hallway.

“Damn, you’re amazing,” I say dreamily.

Adam scoffs and replies, “Yeah, apparently the Galra think so too. Especially because I’m part Altean.” I stop in my tracks, and Adam looks back at me, irritated. I stare at the marks under his eyes, mesmerized by their purple glow.

“ _What_?!”

“I don’t know, I just found out like ten minutes ago! Now come on, Takashi!”

We make it to the hangar, but it’s too late. I see Sendak standing in front of the black lion’s particle barrier along with another Galra I don’t recognize. He’s wearing full Commander armor, including his helmet, which isn’t good news.

Adam shoves me behind a nearby plane and indicates to me to stay put for now. Then he puts his mask on and vanishes completely.

A moment later, I hear him shout, “Hey, Sendick! Didn’t you ever learn it’s rude to steal others’ lions?” Sendak looks around wildly to find the source of the voice, but he can’t.

To my shock, the other Galra Commander suddenly shouts, “BITCH!” and strikes Sendak on the back of the head while he looks for Adam. His swift blow knocks Sendak out cold, and the Commander quickly handcuffs the unconscious Sendak. Then he takes off his mask and shouts, “Adam! Quickly!”

Adam reappears next to him and, seemingly shocked, says, “Thace?!” Then he signals for me to join him. All three of us board the black lion and Adam says, “Thace, how—“

“Ulaz contacted me as soon as you were taken. I made sure I was put on this ship so I could rescue you.”

“Takashi, he’s the one who lowered the shields when the black lion was taken,” Adam says excitedly. “Now let’s get out of here!”

 

**** Part 3: Adam ****

Okay, so getting out of here isn’t as easy as I thought it’d be. I forgot that the ship was in hyperdrive, so if we smash the hangar door and fly out of here, there’s a good chance we’ll be ripped to pieces.

“I can go turn off the hyperdrive so we have an opportunity to escape,” Thace suggests.

“No, we’re surrounded by Galra troops shooting at us! The particle barrier’s the only thing keeping us safe, and if you go out there, you’ll be killed! Besides, Sendak’s probably awake by now, and he knows it’s you who betrayed him. You won’t be able to travel safely through the ship anymore. If anyone should go, it’s me, because I have cloaking.”

At this, Takashi grabs my hand tightly and stares at me, panic in his eyes. “No! I’m not losing you again!”

“Even if we stop the ship, we’ll be in unknown territory, lightyears away from the castle and probably in the middle of enemy territory,” I realize. “We’ve got to find another way.”

Suddenly the lion roars, and a purple line appears on the floor, just as it did when Takashi and I went to the second cockpit. “I think the lion’s trying to tell you something, Adam,” Takashi says. The three of us follow the line down to a room I’ve never seen before. It’s long, skinny, and the walls and ceiling are covered in blue lenses.

“Vi, I’m sorry, but could you please be more specific? I have no clue what the hell this is,” I say.

“I do,” Takashi says. “It’s a Teladuv room. The castle uses this technology to create wormholes.” He gasps suddenly and turns to me. “Adam, that’s it! We need to create a wormhole!”

“Are you crazy?! How the hell are we supposed to do that?! I’ve only travelled by wormhole once, and I used a small Galra ship with a wormhole capability to create it!”

Thace says suddenly, “When was this?”

“When I went to Space Mall. My first solo mission.”

He looks me in the eye and says, “Adam, that ship has not created wormholes for centuries. The Blades have tried to use it that way, but it has never worked.”

“Oh.” After a moment I add, “Okay, so maybe I can create wormholes. But why—“

“It must be because you’re Altean! C’mon, Adam, try it!” A loud crash comes from outside the lion, and the lights within flicker. We’re running out of time.

“Wait a second,” I say, remembering something. “Didn’t you say the blue lion brought you back to the castle using a wormhole?”

“Yeah,” Takashi says. “Oh, wait! That was when Allura was still asleep, so she couldn’t have created the wormhole! So that means—“

“The lions of Voltron can create wormholes,” Thace continues. “And if the blue lion located and created a wormhole to the castle—

“—Who’s to say that the black lion can’t do the same thing,” I finish. Thace and Takashi are grinning at me, and I smile back. “You two head to the main cockpit. I’m going to open up a wormhole for us.”

As soon as they’re out of the room and the door has shut behind them, I say, “Vi, you’re gonna have to help me out here. I have no clue what I’m doing.”

The thrusters retract back into the floor, and two control sticks, like the ones on Allura’s platform in the castle, rise in their place. I press my hands against the tops of them and they start to glow blue.

“Alright, Vi,” I whisper, patting the controls, “let’s get you home.” I focus my thoughts on the castle and on all my friends there. I remember helping Hunk and Pidge study for finals late at night, when Ulaz spent hours digging through a pile of rubble to try and find me, and how it felt when he and Thace had pseudo-adopted me. I remember the long journey to Kerberos with Veronica and Rachel and all the training we went through together. I remember when Lance’s entire family surprised me with a birthday party the summer before launch and how at peace I felt with them. Finally, I recall all the shenanigans Takashi and Keith pulled, how Keith and I comforted each other when Takashi was en route to Kerberos, and how close we are.

“It’s working!” I hear Takashi’s delighted shout from coms, and I smile under my mask.

“Well, what are you waiting for?! Fly through, we’ll hold it open!” What I’m not telling him is that it hurts. It hurts like hell to keep this stupid wormhole open, and it hurts more than anything the Galra did to me this time. But the lion lends me her strength, and I’m able to keep the wormhole open as we fly through it.

“Adam, we made it! Close it!” I jerk my hands away from the controls and my legs give way beneath me. Groaning, I crawl to the purple cockpit and collapse into the chair. I can see the other paladins cheering happily onboard the castle as well as Thace and Takashi in the black lion cockpit. Ulaz looks pleasantly surprised to see Thace, and I smile tiredly.

“Shiro, how’d you get back?! We thought you were as good as gone,” Keith says.

“Yeah, how did you escape from a ship in hyperdrive?”

“We wormholed,” I say. I press a button on my control panel and my image pops up on a separate holographic screen. The other paladins scream in delight at the sound of my voice, and whoop and cheer when they see me.

Once all the commotion dies down, Pidge says, “Wait, how did you make a wormhole? I thought only Allura could do that.”

“Well... only Alteans can use Teladuv technology,” Allura says slowly. She and Coran look at me knowingly. “Adam, while you were in the healing pod, I noticed something strange. I thought it must be a glitch in the pod, but now, I’m not so sure it was...”

We enter the hangar, and I slowly limp out of the lion. Takashi and Thace are already mingling with the others, and I’m happy to see them all together again, especially Ulaz and Thace. Takashi catches sight of me leaning against the black lion’s jaw and teases, “There you are, slowpoke! C’mere, we’re celebrating your return!”

I take a few wobbly steps forwards before I fall to my knees. In an instant, Takashi’s by my side, helping me up. I wrap an arm around his shoulders and lean against him for support. “Adam, are you alright?”

“So you knew,” I say, ignoring Takashi’s question and addressing Allura. “Do you have any idea how this is possible?”

“Not a clue. But come, let’s get you to a pod. We can discuss this later.”

“Discuss what?” At Lance’s question, I sigh and finally demask. A collective gasp rises from the group.

“Apparently, I’m part Altean,” I say tiredly. “Now can I please go to the pod? I’ve been kidnapped, tortured, shot at, kidnapped again, almost suffocated, rescued, and I just created a wormhole due to me being an alien, which I found out like half an hour ago. I’m exhausted.”

“Of course,” Takashi says. He sweeps me up in his arms and carries me to the pod. Before I lose consciousness, the last thing I hear him say is, “It’s good to have you back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *allura voice* an altean!
> 
> YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH ADAM IS ALTEAN!!!!!!! we’re gonna find out more about this later in the story, I promise
> 
> THACE, THE MADMAN, IS AT IT AGAIN
> 
> just gonna let you know, because Thace is here now, he’s not gonna die in that explosion at the end of s2
> 
> Adam being altean is also why he’s wanted by the Empire so badly and why he has such strong quintessence! And now you know what Allura and Coran were talking about in chapter 12!
> 
> THANKS FOR READING I LOVE YOU ALL SM


	20. I try not to lose my mind (it doesn’t work)

Thankfully, I don’t fall out of the pod like I did last time. I wake up just before the pod opens and I’m able to walk out just fine. I notice Ulaz, Thace, and Takashi sitting together with their backs to me. “Aw, you guys waited for me?”

Takashi leaps to his feet and shouts, “Adam!” He pulls me into a tight hug and I grin. Surprisingly enough, my two fellow blades join in the hug.

“Whoa, what’s all this for? I don’t think I’ve gotten this much affection in my whole life,” I joke.

“We feared we would never see you again, Adam,” Ulaz says. “Throughout my time in the Blades, many of my comrades and friends have perished at the hands of the empire. It may sound harsh, but I have become accustomed to this. But you, Adam... you are so young, and you have greatness within you. It would be a pity for the universe to lose you so soon.”

“Oh,” I say, tearing up a bit. “Oh, man. I, uh, I really needed that. Thanks, Ulaz.”

Takashi pulls away from me, concern in his eyes, and says, “Adam? What’s wrong, honey?” His arms rest around my waist loosely. I sigh and push my hair out of my eyes.

“It’s just... over time when I was trapped, they started to taunt me about how nobody came to rescue me. I, uh, started to worry that you guys might’ve left me, and I started to think about how, y’know, my dad left, then my grandma died, then my mom died, then Takashi left... and I maybe started to think a little that I’m not good enough, and that everyone I love is gonna leave eventually?” I rush this last part, trying not to cry. Pushing Takashi away, I add, “But whatever. It’s nothing. Now that I’m back, I’ll be fine.” I quickly walk out of the room before they can ask any questions.

It’s not like I don’t want to see Takashi, Thace, and Ulaz, it’s just I’m tired of being weak and feeling like I’m not doing anything. Most of my time at the Blade has been spent training, sleeping, and teaching the others about Earth culture. When we got to the castle, I thought things might be different, but since then I’ve spent most of my time in Galra prison and in the healing pod. Those three are probably going to smother me with affection and get really protective of me, which would be great if I was in the mood for that— but I’m not. Right now, I need some answers.

I notice Pidge, Keith, and Allura in the training room and duck in there, sensing that I’m being followed by my boyfriend and/or my space dads. I greet them then say, “Hey, Allura, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Of course. I just finished the training sequence, anyway. What do you need?”

“Well, uh, I was hoping you could tell me about being Altean.”

“Alteans were an advanced people who advocated for diplomacy and peace across the universe. I’m sure you’ve noticed you have strange abilities other humans don’t.”

“Not really,” I say sheepishly. She frowns at me as we walk through the castle.

“You can’t do any magic?”

“Well, no...”

“No shapeshifting?”

“You guys can shapeshift?!” Allura nods and, right before my eyes, she grows about half a meter taller and turns purple. “Holy shit, that’s cool! I wish I could do that,” I say.

“You can’t?”

“Well, I guess I’ve never tried to. But when I was a kid, I was really self-conscious about my birthmarks— I guess they were my Altean marks, now that I think of it— and I would wish and wish for them to go away. They slowly faded as I aged, and they were gone by the time I was fifteen, though.”

“Hmmm, that’s not shapeshifting. Let’s take a look at your scans, shall we?” We’ve arrived in a room I’ve never seen before which seems to be beneath the pod room. It looks to be a lab of some sort.

Allura leads me to a nearby projector and taps a few buttons. A double helix appears in front of us, and I’m assuming it’s my DNA.

“As you can see, you’re mostly human. The parts highlighted in blue are genes specific to Alteans.” There’s like three tiny parts glowing blue. Nice.

“So what does that mean for me?”

“You can’t do practically anything that other Alteans can do. In fact, I’m shocked you were able to wormhole.”

“So basically, the only Altean trait I have is the face marks?”

“Essentially, yes. But it makes sense that the gene is diluted because of how long ago my planet was destroyed. What most likely happened was that an Altean in space at the time of the destruction happened upon Earth and decided to settle down there. They must’ve had children with a human, and you’re a distant descendent of them.”

“Oh. I guess I was expecting to have something more... useful?”

“Just because you’re an Altean doesn’t mean you automatically get magic powers,” she says. That makes sense, I guess. I shouldn’t have expected to suddenly be able to do magic and stuff that I haven’t been able to do my whole life. I guess I’ll just have to wait for an opportunity for the wormhole power I have to be useful.

~ ~ ~

It doesn’t take too long. Soon after my conversation with Allura, we got tracked somehow, and she had to wormhole us away, despite being exhausted. Unfortunately, as soon as we popped out of the wormhole, another Galra fleet showed up and is currently following us. With Allura collapsed on the ground and the fleet showing no signs of letting up, we’ve got to do something, fast.

“Once Allura’s awake, we need to wormhole to a place with super high radiation, like near a black hole,” Pidge suggests. “That way, the interference should be enough to cover whatever they’re tracking us through. Until then, we need to hold them off.”

“Or I could just wormhole us there,” I suggest. Pidge’s eyes light up and I smile, happy to finally be of some use. I start to walk to the platform, but Takashi grabs my arm.

“Adam, are you sure about this? You just came back a few vargas ago. You’ve been under a lot of stress these past few quintants, and I want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself—“

“‘Taking care of myself’?! Takashi, that’s a luxury I can’t afford right now! We’re at war!”

“Adam, you could hardly move on your own after the last wormhole, and you had the help of the purple lion! This is a much bigger wormhole and you’d have to make it on your own! I can’t just stand by and let you do this to yourself,” he says, his eyes pleading.

“You don’t believe in me,” I say softly. I jerk my hand out of his grasp and storm up to the wormhole platform. “I’ll show you. I’m going to make this goddamn wormhole and get us to that black hole. Then you’ll see that I’m not useless.”

“Useless? Adam, no one said—“

“SHUT UP!” I slam my hands down on the control sticks and immediately feel an intense pain like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I see the wormhole open through a red haze, and I squeeze my eyes shut, determined not to take my hands off the sticks. I force myself to maintain my position, desperate to prove my worth.

~ ~ ~

The next thing I know, I’m in the healing pod again, where Takashi stands outside, arms crossed. I groan and press the back of my head against the pod wall.

“Two. Fucking. Days,” Takashi says angrily. “You had to be in this pod for two. Fucking. Days.”

“Did I at least get us out of there?”

“Oh, you did that alright. You used up so much energy making that goddamn wormhole that there was hardly anything left of you to put back in the pod. Your body was smoking, Adam. There was literal smoke coming off of you. I thought you didn’t make it, but fortunately, Thace noticed your knife light was still on. Barely.” He shakes his head. “What the hell were you thinking?!”

“I dunno, I thought since I was Altean, I could use the Teleduv—“

“The Teleduv? Oh, yeah, that’s broken now, thanks to you.” He jabs his finger at me. “Some of the lenses are completely shattered. So until we find a way to fix them, we’re stuck next to this black hole!”

“Well I’m sorry, I was just trying to help! But clearly, all I can do around here is make things worse! Maybe I should just disappear!” I sprint out of the room before he can see me crying. I find myself inside the black lion in the main cockpit, sitting in the pilot’s chair. In vain, I try to activate her controls and leave the castle with her.

But I should’ve known better. After all, I’m not the black paladin. I’m just the stupid purple paladin, the one without a lion. I don’t have a role here, I’m pretty much useless among the Blades, and I just learned I’m not even human. But of course, I’m a pretty useless Altean. I bury my face in my hands and finally start to sob, feeling alone and helpless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alternatively titled: adam deals with depression
> 
> yeah so y’all who thought I was gonna give adam a god complex  
> nah
> 
> Also adam’s doing the thing that I do all the time, which is overlooking sucesses and only focusing on failures. Like, as readers, you guys know that adam’s done a lot of things that have helped people, but adam doesn’t feel like he has right now. 
> 
> Golly, this would be a great time to have Shiro come and comfort him. I wonder if that’ll happen in the next chapter?
> 
> THANKS FOR READING REEEEEE


	21. Home: Shiro

I knock gently on the black lion’s cockpit door. “Adam, can I come in?”

No response.

“I know you’re in there. And I’m just going to keep bothering you until you open up.”

Still, no response.

“Have it your way, then,” I sigh. “Look, I know I snapped at you earlier, and I’m sorry. But it wouldn’t have happened if you just told me what was going on. Every time I’ve tried to get you to open up, you’ve brushed me off. And I get it if there’s stuff you don’t want to talk about or relive— trust me, I’ve got plenty of things I won’t be able to talk about for years, probably— but you can’t just bottle everything up and pretend it’s okay. I tried to do that at first, when I’d just become the black paladin. I thought if the team saw me break down, they’d assume I was weak and the whole team dynamic would fall apart.

“I kept up the facade for a while, but then, when we lifted off from Arus, I was suddenly reminded of liftoff during Operation Kerberos. It was a couple weeks after I learned of your supposed death, and I couldn’t help thinking of you. When I remembered our last conversation we had, I realized that those would be the last words I ever said to you. And then I started sobbing, right there in front of everyone. And honestly? I feel like we’ve been a better team since then.”

Silence.

I decide to try a different approach. “We may have found each other out here, but I still feel like I’ve lost you. You’re clearly hurting and you won’t tell me why, and I don’t know what to do to help you. I’m worried sick about you, Adam.”

Finally, the door slides open a bit, and Adam peeks out. His eyes are red and puffy. “I was trying not to worry you,” he says hoarsely.

“Too late,” I say, stepping inside. I pull a large blanket and pillows out of the bag I’m holding and set up a makeshift bed in the cockpit. Adam curls up on the floor and I wrap the blanket around the two of us, snuggling closer to him.

“I guess the Galra really messed with my head this time around. Like, I got used to the guards tormenting me when I was with Haggar, but this was different. They would go out of their way to make sure I was suffering. It was like they were vultures, feeding off of me and picking me apart.” I start to play with his hair and he sighs, leaning into my hand.

“I didn’t get much sleep, if any. I was never alone in my cell. There was always someone watching, jeering, waiting for me to let my guard down and start to drift off so they could get a reaction out of me. They particularly loved to remind me that no one was trying to rescue me. And I started to think, what if they don’t want to save me? What if they realized they don’t need me?”

“The only reason we didn’t rescue you sooner was because Branko said he’d kill you if we tried to get you. We had a spy drone in there, and we saw his whole conversation with Haggar and then with you,” I explain. “As much as I didn’t want to leave you, I didn’t want you to be killed because of me.”

“I guess that makes sense. I appreciate not getting my brains dashed out by that jerk.”

We both laugh a bit, then I sigh. “When Veronica told us you’d been taken, I... I blacked out. Apparently, I just toppled over, giving no warning whatsoever. As soon as I came to, the whole team had to physically restrain me from running to the black lion and blowing up the whole camp. The thing that finally stopped me was when someone said that if I went in there, you might be killed before I could reach you.”

“I’m sorry,” he says after a moment. “I shouldn’t have done the whole thing with the wormhole. I just... wanted to prove that I could do something. Pretty much my whole time here has been spent either in the healing pod or in Galra prison. I don’t think I’ve done one useful thing this whole time.”

“Are you joking?” He glances over at me, looking doubtful. “Adam, because of you, we’re close to getting our first major ally in this war— the Blades. If it had just been Ulaz on that base, I have a feeling the rest of the team wouldn’t have decided to trust him as quick as they did. And because of them, Allura risked trusting Ulaz, which is something I’d never thought she’d do. Also, you created a freaking wormhole when we needed to escape the Galra ship, and you took down all eight of those Galra sentries by yourself. You never cease to amaze me,” I say softly. He sighs and rolls onto his back.

“But most of that stuff is because I’m part Zarkon now. Only Galra can activate the luxite blades— it’s something specific in their quintessence signature. And the only reason I’m part Galra is because he jacked me up with his quintessence. Or hell, maybe I’ve got a Galra ancestor. Maybe I’m just a big mess of alien genes who’s gonna get locked up in Area 51 and dissected when I get back to Earth.”

“This Altean thing is really messing with you, huh?”

“It’s just, it took me a while to be okay with being part Galra now, but in the past few quintants, I’ve learned that I’m not just part Galra, I’m part Zarkon, and that one of my ancestors was an alien whose species is supposed to be extinct. I don’t know if I’m evil now or if I just have super senses and strength or if I even have a real connection with the black lion. Also, even though I’m part Altean, I don’t seem to have any magical powers that they do. Basically, the only thing I get are the face marks, an incomplete ability to wormhole, and the whole Galra empire chasing after me. I— I don’t know who I am anymore,” he says, voice cracking. I grab him by the shoulder and force him to face me. His teary, violet eyes lock onto mine.

“Now you listen to me,” I say, my voice firm. “It doesn’t matter if you’re Galran, Altean, or whatever other species are out there. You’re still my Adam, the one I fell in love with all those years ago, and who I keep falling for every single day. And nothing’s gonna change that. Got it?”

He sniffles and whispers, “Th— thank you.” Then he wraps his arms around me, buries his face in my chest, and starts to sob. I press closer to him and feel his warmth underneath the blanket.

Eventually, the muffled sobs stop and Adam’s breathing slows. My own eyelids start to flutter, and I realize how little sleep I’ve gotten in the past week. But now that he’s here in my arms, everything’s right in the world, and I slip into a peaceful, dreamless sleep with him by my side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two sappy boys being sappy :>
> 
> we’re gonna get back to the action here in the next chapter! or maybe we’ll find out who adam’s Altean ancestor is! I haven’t decided yet!
> 
> yeah i’m gonna keep updating after s8 drops  
> I wanna finish something for once in my life
> 
> THANKS FOR READING Y’ALL I LOVE YOU SO MUCH


	22. Space mall: Shiro

When I wake up again, I’m alone in the black lion. I look next to me and see that not only is Adam gone, but his knife is, too.

“Shit, shit, _shit_!” I scramble to my feet and sprint out of the lion, my blanket still wrapped around my shoulders. I rush to our room only to find that his armor’s gone as well. 

“Not again,” I groan, starting to feel panicked. I burst into the lounge, panting, and shout, “Adam’s gone again!”

“Oh, really? Ulaz, why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve taken some snacks,” Adam says calmly from the couch. It seems like I interrupted some sort of powwow, as all the residents of the castle are seated and talking to each other. The three sets of Marmoran armor lie on a table where Pidge and Hunk are working tirelessly. Adam pats the empty seat next to him and says, “C’mere, we’ve been waiting for you. We need to talk to you about something.” He extends a tray towards me, and I’m surprised to see what’s on it. “Want a pancake? Rachel and I made them earlier.”

Hesitantly, I take one and sit down. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You were so exhausted, I thought I’d just let you sleep. Although, I didn’t expect you to take this long. You slept for seventeen vargas!” He laughs, then says, “You look a lot better though. How are you feeling?”

“Alright, I guess,” I say through a mouthful of pancake. I swallow, then add, “Better now that I’m with you.” I give him a peck on the cheek and he grins.

“Gross,” Keith says. I stick my tongue out at him. “Can’t you two keep it in the black lion?”

“Oh come on, we weren’t doing anything scandalous in there!”

“Yeah, what do you think this is, some kind of fanfiction? If it were, I’d be getting laid a lot more often,” Adam says unhelpfully. Only he would say something like that. “Although, I gotta admit, with everything that’s happened to me since being abducted, it does feel like I’m the main character of a sci-fi novel. With all these plot twists and all the drama— man, I should write a book!”

“Oh please, I’d be the main character,” I say, rolling my eyes. Adam pouts back at me and I add, “You’d be a side character, if that. Someone who ends up dying with pathos, but whose death could’ve been easily avoided.”

“‘Side character’?! Takashi Shirogane, you’re gonna pay for that one!”

“Anyways,” Veronica says, clearly exasperated, “we were discussing some important matters. Coran, is that swap moon you mentioned nearby?”

“Yes! In fact, I found some pictures of it! Here’s what it looks like today.” A few images of what seems to be a mall pop up. For some reason, Adam groans loudly. “If anyone will have Teladuv lenses, it’ll be the Unilu. Adam, Hunk, Lance, Pidge, and Keith, you’ll come with me to search.”

“Er, I don’t think I’m legally allowed back there,” Adam mumbles, scratching the back of his head.

Surprised, I ask, “You’ve been there before?”

“Ah, I must’ve forgotten to tell you guys about that,” he replies sheepishly. “But yeah, I’ve been there. I sorta, uh, exposed the black market, made the mall cop think I was a space pirate, had a ton of alien women trying to woo me, and used my axe to zipline down one of those cables.”

“You did _what_?!” Adam winces and turns to Ulaz.

“It’s not my fault! One of the Unilu tried to sell me!” Adam is trying to explain himself to his mentor, but it’s clearly not working. Ulaz starts to scold Adam but Thace interrupts, laughing.

“Relax, Ulaz. He was simply defending himself.”

“But Thace—“

“Adam was assigned a mission, and he completed it. What more do you want from him?”

“For him to stop taking unnecessary risks,” Ulaz mutters, glaring at Adam.

“Oh, and I wonder where he gets that from? Who could possibly have set that example for him?” The sarcasm in Thace’s voice is evident, and Adam snickers a bit.

Ulaz crosses his arms, then turns to Hunk and Pidge. “Are those suits ready yet?”

“Yep! Adam, I’ve gotta admit, the cloaking tech you installed on your suit is genius! It was simple enough that we could wire Ulaz and Thace’s suits with the same capability, but it works so beautifully,” Pidge says admiringly.

“Well, I can’t take credit for it. After all, I just downsized the cloaking capabilities that our ships and bases use. Frankly, I’m surprised no one else thought to do that,” Adam replies.

“Do you think you could put that on our armor?”

“I’m not sure, Lance. Your suits have a completely different interface than the Marmoran ones. I’d have to do a lot of reprogramming to put it on.”

The two blades exit with their newly modified suits, and I ask, “Are they going to the swap moon too?”

“Nah. They’re going to an old abandoned base which happens to be nearby. Convenient, huh? Anyway, they want to contact leadership to update them on everything that’s happened.”

“Oh, alright. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get those lenses.” I start to get up, but Adam pulls me back.

“You’re not going.”

“Why not?”

“Last night while I was asleep, the purple lion talked to me. She told me that Zarkon’s tracking us through the black lion.” It’s what I’ve suspected this whole time, but it’s nice to finally get confirmation.

“You’re gonna need to forge a new bond with her— one that’s stronger than his,” he continues. “After that, we’ll be able to go to Marmora’s headquarters.” It seems like something’s troubling him, but before I can ask, he turns to Lance and says, “Hey, since I’m not going, would you do me a favor?”

“Sure! Whatcha need?”

“Well, see, there’s this store called Terra with all kinds of things from Earth— that’s where I got all the stuff in my room from. Would you mind getting me some stuff from there?”

“Like what?”

“Literally anything. Here’s some GAC— Oh, and make sure to buy everyone some new clothes. I hate having to do everyone’s laundry every quintant.”

Adam hands him some money and he grins at us, then shouts, “Shotgun!” He runs to the pod, quickly followed by Hunk and Pidge. Keith hangs back for a moment and puts a hand on my shoulder.

“Be safe,” he says, then leaves with Coran. Allura, Rachel, and Veronica have already left the room, with the McClain sisters promising to help Allura rest and relax, so it’s just me and Adam. His Marmoran armor disappears from the table and instantly reforms around him.

I raise an eyebrow at him and ask, “Are you just showing off or do you really think you’ll need that?”

Shrugging, he says, “You never know what might happen— I might need it. Now let’s go have a bonding moment with the black lion!”

~ ~ ~

I sit in the pilot’s seat and sigh, tapping my foot impatiently. “You and I have some work to do. What do I have to do to strengthen our bond?”

“Oh, good, you’ve finally started to address her like she’s a living being, not just a machine. You could be nicer about it, though,” Adam comments. He sits cross legged on the floor next to me. I told him he could’ve gone and sat in the purple lion cockpit, but he insisted that he wanted to be in here with me.

Glaring at Adam, I add, “Work with me, Black. Please.” Without warning, the lion suddenly zooms out of the castle. I’m pushed back into my seat and I yell, “Hey! What are you doing?!”

At the sudden acceleration of the lion, Adam gets sent flying around the cockpit, hitting the walls with an alarming amount of force. Finally, he latches onto a control panel and screams, “TAKASHI! Make it stop! Make it stop!”

“I’m trying!” Pulling on the breaks does nothing so I shout, “Stop! Stop! That’s an order!”

Adam swears loudly as his fingers slip from the control panel and he’s thrown into the walls again. Desperately I say, “I don’t know where you’re headed, but you’re gonna have to start listening to me right now!”

Finally the lion slows down, almost causing Adam to fly right through the windshield. “That’s better,” I say nervously to the lion, then turn to Adam. “Are you okay?!”

He takes off his mask (which I didn’t even see him put on) and says, “Peachy.”

“Sorry,” I say with a groan. “Are you hurt?”

“Thanks to my armor, no,” he says, staring at me pointedly. “Told you I might need it. I could’ve got amnesia or something if I hadn’t masked up.”

“If you had, I would’ve convinced you that your name was Curtis and dump you back on Earth so you’ll stop throwing yourself into danger.”

“Why Curtis? And anyway, you couldn’t live without me,” he says, shrugging. “Now where are we?” I look out the windshield to see what looks like an asteroid field. The lion weaves through the asteroids and I gasp.

There’s a large, rocky planet before me which looks like it’s been blown apart. A gaping crater splits it apart at the center. It’s a barren, lifeless world— so why would the lion want to bring me here?

I close my eyes to see through the lion’s, and a series of images flashes through my mind.

“Whoa,” Adam says when it’s over. “This was her home? Where she was made out of that comet? But what happened?”

“Let’s find out,” I say, grabbing his hand tightly. I close my eyes again to see the black lion in battle, wings activated. It singlehandedly takes out an entire enemy fleet, phasing through cruisers like they’re nothing.

“That was awesome! I didn’t know she could do that! Did you?!” Adam’s enthusiastic voice comes from somewhere besides me, but I can’t see him. I still feel his hand pressed against mine and I give it a squeeze.

“Yeah, I unlocked the wings once, but I don’t think I can do it again. That’s how I got on Sendak’s ship. All three of us— the two lions and I— were working together to achieve a common goal.” Before I can say anything else, the black lion swivels towards me, and suddenly I’m taken inside her cockpit. My blood runs cold when I see Zarkon perched in the pilot’s chair, staring straight at me with those glowing, purple eyes.

“I’ve got you now, paladin,” he says, and I’m suddenly launched backwards, my hand slipping out of Adam’s grasp. I fall and land on my knees, then realize I seem to be in the middle of space. The black lion sits to my left, while Zarkon himself faces me.

“My, my. What a treat. You brought the purple paladin as well?” I turn and see Adam getting to his feet behind me. Like everything else, including myself, I realize, Adam has a faint purple outline surrounding his features. He helps me stand, and Zarkon laughs gleefully, letting out a low, metallic sound that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. “Now I can finally take total control of the black lion by killing the purple paladin and you. You were a fool to face me here. When you die in this realm, your body dies as well.”

“Yeah, well, same goes for you! Pussy,” Adam shouts defiantly. I tap his shoulder and he shrugs at me. “Hey man, I don’t know everything about the Astral Plane, but that would make sense. I don’t know, I guess I just speak out when I’m nervous!”

I take his hand again, then warm up my prosthetic, preparing to fight, then ask, “Together?”

Adam smiles at me and nods, taking out his dagger and his Bayard which transform into the dual blades at his command. “Together,” he confirms. “Now let’s show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah I might be a little bitter so what
> 
> anyway, to cheer myself up after s8, I wrote this chapter! 
> 
> I’m exhausted and need to sleep
> 
> oh and by the way I put some general announcements(?) in the chapter notes of chapter 1 so you may wanna peek at those
> 
> thanks for reading, as always
> 
> k goodnight


	23. I fight my furby Quintessence donor and realize something important

I rush towards Zarkon, but he doesn’t seem too interested in me. Instead he lunges at Takashi, punching him in the gut. Takashi slides backwards where Zarkon slips behind him, sending my boyfriend flying in the other direction. They start to fight while sliding away from me, so I turn to the lion next to me. “Hey! Do you mind helping us out here a bit?!”

The lion doesn’t budge. Takashi misses a punch and Zarkon elbows him harshly in the back, slamming him into the ground.

“Thanks a lot,” I grumble, and fire up my jetpack, trying to intercept the Galra emperor who’s walking calmly to my boyfriend lying on the ground. Unfortunately, everything seems to be more jumpy here (which I should’ve guessed from the way Takashi and Zarkon are bouncing around), so instead of landing next to Takashi, I end up crashing into Zarkon’s chest and pushing both of us back.

I try to stab him with my dual blades but he’s already got the black Bayard out, blocking my blow. It shields him, and with his other hand he grabs my fist, crushing it in his grasp. I cry out in pain, and he kicks me across the Astral Plane. “Is this really my competition for the head of Voltron? Pathetic.”

“You can’t pilot the black lion after everything you’ve done! You can never lead Voltron again!” While Takashi talks to Zarkon, I continue to be his punching bag. Thanks, babe. “You’re no paladin!” At this, the emperor turns to face Takashi and punches him again.

“You have no idea how to command a weapon like this!”

“No one commands the black lion!” Zarkon slams Takashi into the ground, then picks him up by the throat.

“Do you think the black lion would allow such a feeble creature to pilot it? Only the powerful can comma— agh!” My boot hits its target and, while it doesn’t seem to do serious damage, Zarkon drops Takashi and I rush to his side.

I know, I probably shouldn’t have interrupted the villain’s monologue by throwing my shoe at his head. But hey, Takashi was being suffocated. What else was I supposed to do? He coughs besides me, gasping for air, but then I get picked up and thrown around some before I get the hand around my neck too. I hear Takashi say something about trusting each other, and Zarkon laughs.

“Trust has nothing to do with it. The lion is mine,” he says, tightening his grip. My legs flail helplessly in midair as I squirm against him, trying to break free. “Now watch how powerless you are as I kill your partner, right before your eyes!”

Out of nowhere, the black lion appears and shoots Zarkon with its laser. I feel the pressure on my throat loosen and gasp, falling to the ground.

I’m back in the lion’s cockpit with Takashi still at my side. He stares at me, wide-eyed and asks, “Did she just save us?”

Voice raspy, I reply, “Well, it sure as hell wasn’t me.”

“Thank you,” he says, looking up and around the cockpit. “Now let’s go home.” Instead of flying away, the planet fades away on the windshield to reveal the castle’s hangar.

“We never left,” I realize. Then I shout, “Takashi, we just beat up the big bad furby!”

“Again with the nicknames? Adam, you probably shouldn—“

“And Black, holy shit! That was so cool what you did back there! Great job, girl!” I give the wall next to me a pat, then hug Takashi. “Now let’s go see how everyone else is doing!”

~ ~ ~

We’re the last ones back to the control room. Veronica, Rachel, and Allura all have their hair styled and nails painted and are more relaxed than I’ve seen them here. “What did you two do, take a nap?”

“Not exa—“

“Wekickedzarkonoutoftheblacklion!!!!! You guys shoulda seen it, the black lion took us to this wrecked planet and then Zarkon showed up in the Astral Plane and he was like ‘oh if you die here, your body dies too’ and I was like ‘yeah? Well same goes for you, buddy’ and then Takashi, me, and the black lion KICKED HIS ASS!”

“Yeah, that,” Takashi says sheepishly. “I don’t think we have to worry about being tracked through the black lion anymore. And uh, is that a cow?”

I glance over to see it is, in fact, a cow. I also notice the paladins are all wearing lion onesies, with the color matching each paladin’s lion.

“Oh! Adam, Shiro, I got you these from the earth store!” Lance proceeds to give us both our own lion onesies that are purple and black, respectively. “Also, I found another place where they were selling these, and check it out! They even had a purple lion plushie!” He hands me a small plush purple Voltron lion. It looks like how I imagined the purple lion would look if she still existed as her own entity.

“I will cherish this forever,” I say, dead serious. Pidge snorts and I say, “You think I’m kidding? My grandma Shira gave me a purple lion plush as a kid—“

“She-ra? Like the cartoon with all the lesbians? Man, I loved that show! Bow was my favorite character,” Hunk says happily.

“It was a good show and all, I just don’t understand why Catra was so mad that Adora left,” Takashi says. I snap my head around in an exaggerated way and glare at him, raising my eyebrows. “What?”

“Nothing,” I reply, rolling my eyes. Of course he’d be the one to say that. “Anyway, my grandma wasn’t named after the cartoon. Hell, she was probably born before the original came out. But her name’s short for Shirazad.” I narrow my eyes, then say, “Wait a sec. Waiiiiiiit a sec. There’s a lot of weird, unexplained shit that happened with her, and I thought it was just my imagination or me remembering wrong...”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“I think she’s the one,” I say after a moment. “The Altean. Now that I think about what she said, I think she played a pretty major role in history. You see, she used to read to me, and there was this one book that she’d always come back to. But she wouldn’t just read the story as it was written, she’d mention minor details that were wrong, or that something happened years after the story was written... but mainly, she said they got her name wrong. And y’know, I think I remember reading somewhere that in the oldest version of the story known to date had the name Shirazad as the character’s name...” I trail off, suddenly coming to the realization of who my ancestor is.

“Adam? Who was she?”

“Alright, gather around everyone, I’m about to tell you all the wild shit that’s happened with my Grandma Shira— although, you may know her as Scheherazade, the storyteller from One Thousand and One Nights. Listen closely, because shit’s about to get weird.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah Adam has Arabic heritage what are you gonna do about it  
> whenever I’ve read stories from the Nights, I’ve always loved them!!! So I thought why not incorporate the woman, the myth, the legend, Scheherazade into my story! I thought it might be a good way to show more about Adam’s heritage, both Altean and Arabic!!!  
> anyways i’m real excited to continue whipping up this origin story for her
> 
> FINALS ARE ALMOST OVER, YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS  
> MORE FREQUENT UPDATES, YEAH BABY!!!
> 
> thanks for reading ily all


	24. Shirazad's warning

“The first thing that was weird about her was her appearance, which I guess makes sense now. She had long, white hair, which was normal enough for someone old, but she had elfish ears and vivid midnight blue face markings.”

“And you didn’t figure out she was the Altean until now?”

“Well I’m sorry, Pidge, but when I noticed all of this stuff as a kid, the first thing that crossed my mind wasn’t ‘oh, she must be an alien’. Likewise, when I got up here and saw Allura and Coran, I wasn’t exactly thinking about my grandma— I had a lot of stuff going on. May I continue?”

I take the following silence as an answer and say, “Alright. Also, as a kid, I thought I remembered her doing magic— healing things, making things appear out of thin air, stuff I’d written off as my imagination through the years. There were a lot of rumors about her— that she was a witch, she’d lived for over two hundred years, stuff that makes other kids not take too fondly to you. Other kids already didn’t like me when I was younger because I looked weird, but they were terrified by my grandma.

“She always wore this deep blue traveling cloak with a hood, which freaked some people out. But I loved it— it was really soft and it had cool patterns on it. I’m not sure, but I think she used magic to repair it constantly.

“But I digress. What I know about her is that she’s from India, she had a husband named Shahryār and had four kids with him, three sons and a daughter. She didn’t really, uh, talk about her past much, except when she’d say stuff about the Nights. Sometimes I’d go out and gather stuff in the woods with her along with Vi— hey, wait! She gave me the purple lion plushie, and she was the only one besides me who could see Vi, who turned out to be the purple lion! Maybe the lion knows something!”

~ ~ ~

Soon enough, I’m nestled up in my cockpit in the black lion. “Hey Vi? Do you know about someone named Shirazad? She’s my—“

_Your great-great grandmother?_

“Yeah, her— wait, she’s my— what? How is that possible? Wasn’t she like six hundred years old?”

 _Over one thousand six hundred years old, actually._ My jaw drops and Vi purrs, appearing beside me. I give her a scratch between the ears and she continues. _Shirazad was an outstanding alchemist who had an extraordinary understanding of Quintessence. She used this ability to extend her life as well as to connect with the Astral Plane._

_I do not know from where she came, but whenever that topic came up, she would divert all attention from it. All I know is she appeared in an Altean pod one thousand five hundred years ago._

_But there was another besides her in the pod— her sister, Dunyazade. Dunyazade was drawn to Earth because of the blue lion. Blue sensed that Dunyazade would be important to her later on. That instinct turned out to be true, as Dunyazade is the current blue paladin’s ancestor._

“What?! Lance is Altean?!”

_Yes, but less so than you are. She lived for two hundred years, and her children did not live as long as Shirazad and her daughter, so the Altean genetics became more diminished more quickly._

“What’s the story about her daughter? She was never in any versions of the story.”

_Her name was Azami, and she was conceived after the events of the Nights. Azami was the only child who could perform magic like Shirazad, so she outlived all of her siblings, and their children, and their children, as well as Dunyazade. Shirazad’s descendants lived on and spread out across India, the Middle East, and Asia. But Shirazad and Azami became wanderers, living a lifetime in one place, then faking their deaths and moving to another._

_Eventually, Azami fell in love and had a child, Shion. Shion is the one who found the blue lion with Shirazad._

“What about Azami?”

 _Azami was burnt as a witch in Europe, which drove Shirazad to take young Shion to start a new life in the Americas. Trying to avoid the Europeans, Shirazad would constantly be moving further and further west. The two ended up in North America, where they were accepted into the Havasupai tribe. The Havasupai brought them to a large crater in which they found Blue._ _Through her, I was able to reach Shion and Shirazad. I assumed this form and accompanied Shirazad for the rest of her life— though, it is Shion who gave me all of this information about your heritage. After a while, Shion had a child with a Havasupai man._

“My mom?” Vi nods her purple head and gazes up at me. “I never knew I was part Native American. Why didn’t mom tell me?”

_She never knew. Her father was killed before she was born from a disease that new settlers brought with them. This was in the early 1900s, when the Congress took the Havasupai’s territory and attempted to destroy their culture. Shion, out of fear for her unborn child, changed her appearance and name, and chose to raise her child as if they were Europeans. She gave your mother the Christian name of Mary and raised her on the East coast, away from Shirazad._

“That’s awful!”

_She was doing what she thought would protect her daughter. While it was a selfish decision, it was by no means an easy one._

“Well, it’s just not right! Leaving those people behind to suffer and erasing her daughter’s heritage like that, as if it was something to be ashamed of! That’s not okay!”

 _Be that as it may, Shion left. It was not until Shion’s funeral that Mary finally met Shirazad. Now, Shirazad’s age had started to take a toll on her, so Mary, kind soul that she was, cared for Shirazad until the end of her life._ _That was when I met you, and knew you were the one I’d been waiting for._

“So that’s why Grandma Shira always told me I’d do great things— she knew,” I muse. “All her little lessons about space, her showing me magic and trying to teach me _,_ her encouraging me to become a pilot… that was because she knew I’d be the purple paladin someday?”

_Yes. She instructed me to tell you all of this when the time was right, but would not say where she came from. When I asked her what to tell you in regards to that, she said you would have to find that out from her._

“But how can I do that? She’s dead!”

_I cannot help you here, I’m sorry. But she did leave one last message for you._

“Oh? And what’s that?”

_BEWARE THE PRINCE._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the prince, huh? I wonder who that could be! Also, I wonder if that's a clue to where she came from? Guess we'll have to wait and see!
> 
> NATIVE AMERICAN ADAM
> 
> i drew a whole family tree/timeline for Shirazad, but it has spoilers on it so I'm not gonna put it anywhere lmao but if you're confused, don't worry, there will eventually be a diagram for all of this
> 
> this is not the last we're gonna hear of Shirazad's story, but for now, we have other things to get on to! Do you remember what the episode after space mall was? because thaT'S WHAT'S ABOUT TO HAPPEN, BABY
> 
> THANK YOU FOR READING AND I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! Y'ALL'S COMMENTS ON THE LAST CHAPTER GAVE ME MOTIVATION TO WORK ON THIS ONE!! ILYSM


	25. The Blade of Marmora

Two days later, we’re still no closer to knowing who this “prince” is. I’ve told my teammates everything I learned from Vi, including Lance, Rachel, and Veronica’s surprising heritage. They took it surprisingly well, much better than I did.

But we’ve got more important things to do than find out who my grandma was throwing shade at. We’re headed to the Blade’s HQ now via wormhole (don’t worry, Allura’s doing the wormhole, not me.)

I’m nervous about going back, though. Not only will I have to report about the loss of the outpost and the new discovery of both my quintessence donor and heritage, but I’ll have to tell them that I got captured again and everything that happened with that. What if I get put back on the base because they think I can’t handle anything? Even if I don’t get grounded, I’m worried about getting a new assignment. A new mission could take me away from Takashi again, as well as Keith, Lance, Veronica, and Rachel.

Before I can do much more thinking, we pop out of the wormhole. I see the familiar blue star between the two black holes, and I smile a bit. Even though I’m worried about what’ll happen, it’ll be nice to see my friends at the base again.

Galra letters pop up on the Castle’s windshield and a robotic female voice reads, “Identify yourselves.”

“You first,” I say, for old times’ sake. Ulaz chuckles.

The robotic voice says, “Welcome back, Adam."

“Thanks, Karen,” I reply, getting some quizzical looks from the others. I shrug and tell them, “That’s what I nicknamed her. Is that a problem?” I turn back to the screen and say, “I’m here with Thace, Ulaz, and the paladins of Voltron, requesting clearance for entry.”

A moment passes before Karen says, “Adam, Thace, Ulaz, and two others may enter. Come unarmed.”

~ ~ ~

The second Ulaz, Thace, and I exit the red lion, Antok runs up to me and wraps me up in a tight hug. I’m lifted about half a meter off the ground as he cradles me and says, “Adam! It is good to see you again, I missed you!”

“Heh, thanks, buddy,” I reply, and he squeezes me even harder. “Antok— can’t breathe—“ He quickly lets me go and apologizes, but keeps a hand on my shoulder. I imagine he’s grinning under his mask.

“Shouldn’t you guys leave your knives in the lion? They said to come unarmed,” Takashi says, stepping out of Red with Keith.

“We were not addressing them,” Antok says, suddenly sounding like his usual, intimidating self. “Who are you?”

“This is Keith, the red paladin, and I’m Shiro, the black paladin.” Antok walks closer to Takashi until he’s towering over him. Nervously, Takashi stares up at him.

“So you are the one who left Adam?” Takashi gulps and nods at the Blade, who’s easily a meter taller than him. Antok bends down and picks up a rock that’s about the size of my head, then crushes it with his bare hand. He leans down until their faces are centimeters apart then snarls, “Break his heart again, and I will not hesitate to snap you in half.”

“Whoa! Okay, bud,” I say, stepping between them, “that won’t be necessary. We’re trying to form an alliance, remember?” Takashi takes a few steps back and Antok glares at him. “Now let’s just go inside and talk to Kolivan, okay?”

The other three with us have been awkwardly watching this exchange, and they seem relieved to head inside the base. Thace opens up the door and we head down the stairs to the entry hall. Poor Takashi looks as white as a ghost and like he’s about to piss himself, so I take his hand and lead him along.

“You alright?”

“I don’t think your friend likes me very much,” he whispers back shakily.

“He’s just protective of me, that’s all. He’ll warm up to you eventually.” Part of me wants to laugh, but I force myself to hold it in. It’s heartwarming to know that, in his own peculiar way, Antok has my back, and it was pretty funny to see him towering over Takashi like that. But I don’t want Antok threatening to kill him.

As if on cue, Antok says, “I could crush your bones without even trying.” Takashi jumps and stiffens, clasping onto my hand tightly.

“ _Antok_!”

We reach the main hall, where several blades are in formation around Kolivan, who says, “You were told to come unarmed.”

“Oh,” I say, realizing what he might be talking about, “Takashi’s arm isn’t detachable. I know it’s technically a weapon, but it’s also just his hand. Sorry, I should’ve told you about that. But really, they mean no harm, I promise.”

“I was not referring to the prosthetic. Antok!”

At Kolivan’s command, Antok roughly shoves Takashi to the ground (which seems unnecessary) and tackles Keith. I rush towards the pair, intending to pull them apart, but Antok pulls something from Keith’s suit pocket and I pause, shocked.

Keith somehow has a Marmoran blade. It’s not mine, Ulaz, or Thace’s— but I think I might know whose it is. As Antok interrogates Keith about the knife, I run to Kolivan and whisper, “I think I know how he got that, and I don’t think he stole it.”

“Oh? Go on,” he says.

“There’s a Blade I met named Krolia a while back. She told me she’d been stranded on Earth for a while and that she had a son with a human there. And when I was talking with her, something about her seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it until I was with the paladins. And when I knew Keith back on Earth, he always carried that knife with him, but the symbol was always covered, and he said he never knew his mom... I think... I think he might be her son,” I say. I’m just now putting all the pieces together, but I think I’m on to something here.

I know I should be shocked, because if I’m right, that means I’ve been living with a half-Galra this whole time— and one who’s mom is a Blade, no less. That’d mean that my connection with the Blades has gone on longer than I could’ve imagined. But honestly, I’ve gotten so used to surprises coming out of nowhere that this one seems less like a radical idea than a logical conclusion.

“Hey! What’s going on?! Tell me where the blade came from,” Keith shouts from the floor. “I need to know!”

“You seek knowledge?” I know by the tone of Kolivan’s voice, this is going to be trouble. “There is only one way to attain knowledge here.”

“How?! I’ll do it!”

“The trials of Marmora. Should you survive, you may keep the blade and its secrets will be revealed.”

“‘Survive’? Keith, this is crazy!”

I put my hand on Takashi’s shoulder and say, “It’s the only way.” He glares at me, as if I was supposed to agree with him.

“Antok, give the boy the blade.”

“We will meet again,” Antok says, then heads over towards me, parking himself next to Takashi.

“Can’t wait,” Keith mutters, and I snicker into my mask. Keith’s led into a separate room to prepare, while Takashi and I are brought to a room I’ve never been in. There’s a screen covering the whole wall, and the trial room appears on it.

“Oh,” I say, surprised, “you can see the trials? I didn’t know that.” A Blade appears from the floor, and Keith starts to fight him.

“That is how we knew of the events in your trial,” Ulaz explains.

“Wait, what?! Adam, you did this too?”

“Oh, I uh, must’ve forgotten to tell you,” I lie.

The Blade, who’s already given Keith a scar on the shoulder, lets him up and Keith walks through the door. In the next room, two blades rise from the floor.

“This is _not_ a fair fight!”

“Nor is taking on the Galra, yet that is the fight we face,” Kolivan replies. Takashi sighs, clearly not comforted by this.

“Don’t worry, Takashi, there’s a trick to it. As soon as Keith figures it out, he’ll be okay,” I tell him.

He whirls on me and says, “And when were you planning on telling me about this trial?”

“Wh—“ Takashi grabs me by the front of my uniform and pushes me against the wall, then turns around with his arm protectively over me.

He heats up his bionic arm and says, “Look, I don’t know what you did to him to convince him to join you after putting him through that, but you’re going to fix him right now.”

“Takashi, what the he—“

“Shut up! Adam, did they or did they not do to you what they’re doing to Keith right now?” He gestures at the screen, where Keith is getting pummeled by five blades. I nod, not sure how he wants me to respond since he just told me to shut up. “You wouldn’t stay with them if they hurt you like that—“

“I had no other choice! Ulaz rescued me and offered me a place to stay in space where I was informed, armed, and fighting against Zarkon. How could I just walk out?” His arm stops glowing and I continue, “After experiencing firsthand what the Galra Empire could do, I had to fight back. And I did so the only way I could.”

“But they hurt you,” he says, looking at me sadly.

“They had to make sure I could handle being a Blade, Takashi. And this, the physical test, is just one way you need to be tested.” On screen, Keith finally does what I did and drops down into the second phase.

“Guess I really wasn’t supposed to go through that door,” Keith says, then collapses.

“Come on, Keith,” I say under my breath. In front of Keith, a familiar figure appears.

“Wha— is that me?” Sure enough, Takashi’s standing in front of Keith, helping him up. “Is that a hologram?”

"His suit has the ability to create a virtual mindscape, reflecting its wearer's greatest hopes and fears. And at this moment, your friend desperately wants to see you,” Kolivan replies.

“Yeah, this is the mental part of the trial,” I add. “This was the hardest part for me... and the reason I didn’t want to tell you about this.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Well, first, Keith showed up and was mad at me for abandoning him. Then he turned Galra because I was scared for what happened to Earth while I was gone, and was afraid he might have been taken and tested on like me. After that he turned into my dad, and I punched him and he dissolved into smoke.”

“That’s it? I mean, that’s awful, but I don’t see why you wouldn’t tell me about that.”

“You appeared in his trial,” Thace says, and I flinch.

Staring at my feet, I say, “Yeah, you uh, you tried to convince me to go home. But I just couldn’t do that, so I had to leave you.”

Takashi’s quiet for a moment, then he walks over and hugs me. “I understand,” he says simply.

“I just couldn’t go back to Earth after seeing how bad things were out here, and— wait, you’re not mad?”

“No, I did the same thing. I left Earth on the blue lion thinking that you were still there. I wanted to fight the Galra.”

Suddenly, Keith’s trial scene changes, and we watch as holographic versions of ourselves run in to the trial room. It looks like Keith thinks the red lion’s attacking the base, and we all rushed in to attack him. Hologram Takashi and Kolivan are yelling at each other, and HoloTakashi heats up his arm. HoloAdam jumps in between them and begs them to calm down, but before any fighting breaks out, Keith shouts, “Wait! Just take the knife!”

All the holograms turn to look at him, and Keith says, "It doesn't matter where I come from. I know who I am. We all need to work together to defeat Zarkon. And if that means I give up this knife, fine. Take it."

The blade starts glowing in his hand, and I cheer. “Takashi, look! He did it!”

“Congratulations,” Kolivan says over coms, “you have awoken the blade. It takes an act of true self-discipline to do so. Now go with your lion to notify your teammates that we are willing to form an alliance.”

“YES! That’s what I’m talking about,” I yell, picking Takashi up and putting him over my shoulder. I carry him to the trial room then put him down so I can hug Keith.

“I didn’t know you could do that, Adam,” Takashi mumbles, blushing. He looks like his brain just short circuited. Antok and Kolivan walk in, and I give Antok a high five.

“Wel—“

“Oh! Can I say it, can I say it?” Kolivan sighs irritatedly at my interruption.

“Fine.”

“Welcome to the Blade of Marmora, Keith!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NJJSDHIURFEREHUIEHUIRFEHIUUHUI IT’S BEEN A WHILE I’M SORRY I WAS BUSY THIS PAST WEEK
> 
> KEITH IS A BLADE NOW YEET
> 
> Antok is not having it
> 
> YEAH ADAM NAMING THE ROBOTIC VOICE KAREN IS A SPIDER-MAN REFERENCE
> 
> OH OH OH I POSTED THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT ALREADY!!!! it’s the second work in this series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> THANKS FOR READING I PROMISE I’LL GET BACK TO UPDATING MORE FREQUENTLY


	26. An emotional farewell

“Keith! I’m glad you could come,” I say, opening the door to my room. I left a note in his inbox as soon as his trial was over, asking if when he was all rested, he could come and see me. We sit down on my bed and I say, “So, how are you feeling?"

“Pretty weird,” he admits. “I mean, ever since you and Ulaz came and I saw your knives, I started to suspect something might be different about me, but finding out I’m part Galra…"

I pat him on the shoulder and say, “I know how that feels. But that doesn’t change who you are. You’re still the same Keith you’ve been your whole life, got it?” I nudge him and joke, “Hey, at least you’re part Blade, not part evil teenage mutant ninja turtle.” He snorts and I grin, laughing along with him. “Oh, and I think I might know who your mom is, too.”

“Wait, really?!”

“Yeah,” I say, leaning down to grab my sketchbook. I start leafing through the pages carefully. “Her name’s Krolia. I met her just after that one time Zarkon took the black lion. The reference photo I used was downloaded to the base Ulaz and I were on, so it was destroyed when the base got vored.”

“Only you would say something like that,” he says with a laugh.

I finally find the page and say, “Okay, stand next to the mirror.” Once he’s in position, I hold up the drawing next to him.

“Wow.”

“Uncanny resemblance, huh? And if that isn’t enough proof for you, she told me she got stranded on Earth and had a son!”

“And you’re just now realizing it might be me?”

“Okay, just because some Galra woman said she had a son on Earth and she looked like you doesn’t mean I automatically assumed she was your mother. You never showed any sign of being anything other than a normal kid, albeit with some discipline issues. And what are the odds that you, of all the people on Earth, were the one that’s half Galra? That your mother would be part of the organization that took me in? It’s a crazy coincidence, don’t you think?”

“What if it’s not, though?”

“Hm?”

“All five of us paladins were directly connected to each other before we got out here, whether it be through the Garrison or Operation Kerberos, and you knew all of us, too. Even before Voltron, we were all linked— maybe it’s fate, not coincidence.”

“Could be,” I say. “I mean, the purple lion apparently pegged me as its paladin ten thousand years before I was born. Not sure how much use I am as a paladin, though,” I add with a chuckle.

“I think something’s gonna happen soon,” Keith blurts out. “Something big. Red seems nervous, and Lance said Blue isn’t acting like herself. I just hope...” he trails off, seeming lost.

“What is it, Keith?”

“I don’t know. After we got the black lion back, when Shiro and I were stranded, he told me that if something happened to him, he wanted me to lead Voltron. But I don’t think I can.”

“You’re capable of more than you think you are, Keith. But the black lion wouldn’t choose you unless you were ready. Takashi might want you to lead Voltron, but the black lion might have a different say on the matter. Try not to let what he said bother you, Keith— it’s not fair of him to put that much pressure on you.”

“Thanks. And uh... do you mind showing me around?”

“Oh, not at all!”

~ ~ ~

Little did I know that only a couple quintants after showing Keith around the base, we’d all be sent off on separate missions. It’s all for a plan to end Zarkon’s reign, once and for all, and it was created by the Blades and the paladins working together! Crazy, right?!

Anyway, I got sent to Olkarion to work on constructing a massive Teladuv with Rachel, Veronica, and several Blades. Fortunately, I didn’t get taken by any Galra Commanders this time around, and I actually got to enjoy spending time on the planet. It was nice, just getting to roam around the forest with the McClain sisters, the Olkari, and my fellow blades.

Of course, most of the time was spent building the Teladuv, which is almost operational. We just need the paladins to return with the Balmera crystal, which apparently has been giving them some trouble. But after a couple of vargas of waiting, I see a large wormhole open up in the sky, and the castle flies out of it.

After a moment, the black lion flies out of the castle and lands in front of me. I wave up at her, and she sits down and opens her mouth.

“Hey babe!” Takashi picks me up and spins me around, then I lean down to kiss him. “Did you miss me?”

“Perhaps,” I reply playfully, kissing him on the cheek.

“Gross,” Keith says.

I roll my eyes and say, “I missed you too, Keith. Any news about your mom?”

“Nope, but we’ve got the Balmera crystal. How’s the wormhole generator coming along?”

“Great! I was assigned to do construction work, so I’ve been doing a lot of lifting, welding, stuff like that. It’s been pretty physically demanding, but my only job now is to rest up for the big fight.”

“Same here,” Lance replies. “Have you seen my sisters? I want to say goodbye to them before they leave for Earth.”

Oh, right, I totally forgot! Part of the plan was that, when the paladins returned with the final batch of resources, Rachel and Veronica would be wormholed back home by Allura. They’re going to be sent back with a ton of Altean and Olkari building plans, including blueprints for Teladuvs, Olkari cubes, and even the Castle of Lions.

I find the sisters and we head into the Castle together, where a pod is waiting for them. The other paladins bid them farewell until it’s just Lance and I with them.

“Are you sure you two’ll be alright? I could cover you with the blue lion until you make it to Earth.”

“We’ll be fine, hermanito,” Veronica says reassuringly, patting Lance on the shoulder. “Are _you_ going to be okay?”

Lance shrugs and says, “I’ll be fine, but it’ll be weird with you being gone again.”

“It’s not like you're sending us back to Galra prison, Lance. We’re going home. And no matter how far apart we are, we’re always going to love you. Veronica and I are so proud of the man you’ve become since we last saw you on Earth,” Rachel says. Eyes glowing with pride, she pulls her twin brother into a hug. “You’re going to do great things, hermanito.”

“You take care of him now, Adam,” Veronica says commandingly.

“Yes ma’am,” I say, and we hug.

“And no more wormholing for you— at least, not until you come back to Earth. We’ll figure out a way to make the process less draining. No more putting yourself in danger, got it?”

“No guarantees,” I mutter.

She lets me go and hugs Lance, and Rachel wraps her arms around me. She pushes a white strand of hair out of my eyes then, on her tiptoes, she kisses my cheek. “Come back home safe, hermano.” At this, I tear up a bit.

“‘Hermano?’”

“Just because you weren’t born in our family doesn’t mean you haven’t become a part of it. And aren’t we extremely distant cousins, anyway?” I nod, too afraid I’ll start crying to speak. “So yeah, you’re my hermano, like it or not.” We let go and she says, “Both of you better come back safe or Veronica and I will come back out here and drag your asses back to Earth.”

I wrap an arm around Lance, who has started to cry a bit, and say, “We’ll do our best. After all, we’ve got each other.” They both smile at us, then get into the pod. Lance and I wave from behind a glass screen as they fly out of the hangar and through the wormhole, towards a brighter future for Earth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> veronica and rachel get to go home!!!!! AND ADAM IS LIKE A PART OF THEIR FAMILY NOW I'M SO EMOTIONAL
> 
> man i love foreshadowing
> 
> now, you may be thinking that the next chapter will be the s2 finale  
> HOWEVER  
> i'm not emotionally ready to write that chapter  
> so there'll be one more chapter before we get there, and it'll be a fluff chapter! adam is gonna take his man on a date!
> 
> also i think i know what my next fic is gonna be :>
> 
> THANKS FOR READING


	27. Date night: Shiro

I look in the mirror and nervously tie my black tie. Despite my protests, Adam has insisted on taking me out on a date the night before we fight Zarkon. What finally convinced me was when he threatened me with sleeping on the couch for a month.

So here I am, all dressed up, ready to go to some restaurant Adam’s found on a nearby asteroid. I meet him in the hangar, where he’s dressed in a virtually identical suit but with a purple tie. He helps me into a small Altean ship and says, “You look wonderful, darling.”

“Same goes to you,” I say. “Now scoot over. I’m flying.”

“First of all, I’m already sitting in the pilot’s seat. And just because you’re the black paladin doesn’t mean you’re a better pilot than me,” he says teasingly. I punch his arm and sit in the passenger seat, making sure to over-exaggerate buckling my seat belt.

Rolling his eyes, Adam zooms out of the cockpit and in less than five doboshes, we’re at the moon. I step out of the craft onto a plush purple carpet and grab Adam’s hand, leading him into the restaurant.

“Kozakura, party of two,” Adam says to the waiter. He leads us to a table and we settle in.

Quietly I ask, “‘Kozakura’?”

“Mom’s maiden name. It’s not like I can just go around giving our names out,” he explains. “So, what do you think?”

Surveying the restaurant, I say, “Not bad. Looks almost like a fancy restaurant back on Earth, but at the same time, it’s completely different.”

“Gee, that’s real specific,” he says, and I laugh.

“Just think,” I say after a moment, “After we defeat Zarkon, we can have so many more dates like this.”

“You really think it’ll be that simple?”

“What do you mean?”

“Haggar’ll still be out there, not to mention Sendak, Branko, and all the other Galra generals. There’ll be this huge power vacuum with Zarkon gone, and all these Galra Commanders will fight with each other for power. They won’t just suddenly change their ways because of Voltron. No, we’ll need someone within their group, someone who has a fighting chance to succeed Zarkon but who’s willing to listen to us...”He trails off, looking down at his feet, and I put my hand on his shoulder.

“It’s going to be okay, Adam. We’ll figure it out— together.”

A waitress walks up to us and says, “What would you two like for drinks?” She twirls her green hair idly, boredly looking down at her notepad.

“I’ll try the number four special,” I reply. I look over at Adam, but for some reason, he’s hidden himself behind the menu.

“And you?”

“Just water, please,” Adam says from behind the paper, his voice sounding much, much deeper. It’s still his voice, but he’s dropped it down about an octave, and it’s really sexy. The waitress frowns and finally looks up from her notepad.

“Do I know you from somewhere? You sound famil—“

“Nope,” Adam says quickly.

She squints at him and says, “Are you sure? Lemme see your face—“

Adam scoots the menu away from her outstretched hand and says, “That won’t be necessary. I’m positive I don’t know y—“ Finally, she snatches the menu from Adam, and her eyes widen. Adam forces a smile, clearly uncomfortable.

“Oh. My. Bob. You’re that hottie from Space Mall!”

“Nope, that’s certainly not me. I don’t even know what Space Mall is and I’ve never been there before in my life. Also, I’m not hot, so therefore I can’t be a hottie,” Adam says nervously. The waitress sits down on the table in front of him, getting between us.

“So, what’s a tasty little thing like you doing here all by yourself?”

“Excuse me,” I say, crossing my arms, “I’m right here.”

She looks back at me and pouts, then slides off the table. Grabbing Adam’s chin and forcing him to look at her, she says, “I’ll be back soon, love. Tell your friend here to lighten up, would ya?”

As soon as she’s gone, Adam groans and puts his head on the table. “That wasn’t supposed to happen,” he mutters. “Out of all the places in the universe she could work, she works here?!”

“Am I not hot?!”

Adam stares at me, dumbfounded. “Are you serious?! That’s what you’re thinking about?”

“Well, it’s just back on Earth, that usually happens the other way around, where I would get flirted with and then you’d scare whoever did it shitless? It was real cute when you’d do that.” Adam sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Do you think I’m enjoying this, Takashi?”

“I’m not enjoying it any more than you are! I can’t distract her from flirting with you and it’s irritating!”

She’s back now, and she sits down right on Adam’s lap. “Okay, that’s enough,” I say, walking over to the pair. I pick her up and put her away from Adam, then take her place on his lap. The booth is too small to fit both of us in this way, so Adam and I are squished up against each other. I can feel his heart beating fast against my chest. “Sorry, but he’s mine.” Then I start aggressively making out with him.

“Woah,” Adam murmurs when I finally pull away. “That was... wow. That was hot.”

“Have it your way,” the waitress says with a smirk. “Oh, and sweetheart— your drink’s on the house. Thought I’d give ya something special.” She leaves, and I frown.

“Well that was easier than I thought it’d be,” I say.

Adam and I are just about to make a toast when a deep voice says, “Adam, do not drink that.” I turn to see an unfamiliar Galra standing by the booth. He walks over to Adam, who stands up, surprised.

“Antok?” Oh, shit. Has he been here this whole time? I hope he didn’t see me making out with Adam. “Why shouldn’t I drink it?”

“She tampered with it while Shiro was smothering you,” he says, glaring at me. “The toxin in it makes you more susceptible to persuasion as well as arousing you uncontrollably.”

“Oh,” Adam says, pushing the drink away from him. “Thanks for warning me. Er, Takashi— do you mind if we leave? I’m not sure I’m comfortable here.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” I say, feeling guilty. If it weren’t for Antok, Adam could be in serious danger right now.

The two of them exchange a few words before Antok takes off in his own ship. I sigh and press my hands against my temples.

“You alright?” Adam looks down at me in the passenger seat, concern reflected in his purple eyes. Their new, vivid color reminds me of everything that’s happened to him, everything I couldn’t protect him from.

“Remember how I used to get annoyed about how protective you were of me? It pissed me off so much, especially when I went to Kerberos. But now I can see why you were that way.”

“I still am that way,” he reminds me, and I laugh. He settles in the pilot’s seat, waiting for me to go on.

“And when I look at you now, I start to think...” I trace the scar over his eye with my left hand and rest my prosthetic on his. “Maybe you were the one who needed protecting.” To my surprise, he bursts out laughing. Defensively, I say, “What?”

“Takashi, I survived Galra prison and am part of the Blades— I think I can handle myself. It’s sweet of you to want to protect me, but ultimately, the universe needs you more than me.”

“I need you, Adam,” I whisper, then lean in and kiss him softly. His eyelashes flutter against my skin, gently tickling me, and I savor the warm touch of his lips against mine.

“I love you, Takashi,” he murmurs when we finally part. Then he reaches into his bag and pulls out some of my clothes. “Now get changed,” he says, “it’s time for part two of this date.”

“Part two? What do you have planned for me?”

“You’ll see,” he says, smirking at me as he pulls his own change of clothes out of his bag.

~ ~ ~

“It’s just like laser tag, but on roller skates! C’mon, Takashi, this is gonna be great!”

I’m not so sure about this. Adam’s always been good at roller skating, but me? Not so much. But when I saw how Adam’s face lit up with that beautiful, carefree grin I haven’t seen in so long, how could I say no?

Turns out the other paladins are here, too, and we all have a blast. I fall more than a few times, but Adam’s always there to help me up, laughing and smiling at me. Lance is by far the best at the game, as he has the best aim of the team and seems to be the best on skates along with Adam. Keith ends up teaming up with Lance (no surprise there), but suddenly ends up turning on him when Lance says something about being a good team.

We end up staying there for a couple of Vargas, then we all head back to the castle to rest up for the big day tomorrow. As Adam and I head back to the room, he says, “I really enjoyed today, Takashi. Whatever happens tomorrow... I’m glad we spent this time together.”

“Oh, it’s not over yet,” I say teasingly, putting my hand on his lower back. “It’s your turn to be walking funny.”

He shrugs and says, “I don’t mind either way.” We walk into the bedroom and I immediately pin him down, and push my tongue between his lips. “Mhn... Takashi...” he mumbles breathlessly between kisses. I prop myself up over him and push the white streak of hair back, the one that always falls in front of his eyes.

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you, Adam.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shiro: makes all these comments about his future with Adam  
> me, knowing exactly what’s going to happen in the next chapter: Shiro you’re hurting me
> 
> LANCE FINALLY ADMITTED HE REMEMBERED THE BONDING MOMENT AND HE DID IT DURING L A S E R T A 
> 
> thanks for reading I hope the next few chapters don’t cause serious trauma


	28. Blackout (author’s least favorite chapter so far)

Everything’s going great until out of nowhere, Voltron gets hit by a giant blast of purple light.

Frantically I shout, “What the hell was that?! Paladins, do you copy?!”

“That was magic,” Allura says, stunned. Then she yells, “Paladins, can you hear me?!”

After what seems like an eternity, Takashi’s voice comes over coms and says, “Yes, Princess. We’re alive. But Voltron isn’t operational. We can’t move.”

“Wait, what’s that?!” The fear in Lance’s voice sends a shiver down my spine, and I look out the castle window. There’s a small ship rising out from Zarkon’s ship which happens to look exactly like him.

“Fuck! You guys need to get moving, now!”

“We’re trying, Adam!”

I look at Allura and I can tell she’s thinking what I’m thinking. “We must buy them more time. Get us in closer. Divert all power to our weapons system.”

“What? Princess, we’ll be defenseless!”

“It's the only way,” she says to Coran. Then she turns coms back on. “Listen to me. You are true paladins now. Connect with your lions, reach out to each other! Fight! This cannot end now! Fire!”

“Wait, what are you doing?!”

“We’re buying you time, Takashi! Now you’d better—“

“ADAM!” Takashi’s horrified scream is the last thing I hear before a bolt of energy rips through the castle, and I’m knocked out cold.

~ ~ ~

“Ungh... wha...?” Groaning, I open my eyes to find that I’m floating in midair. I gasp and use my jetpack to righten myself, remembering what just happened. “Is everyone alright?”

“Yes, but the castle isn’t,” Coran replies. He and Slav are sitting at the control panel, seemingly trying to restart it.

“Where’s everyone else?”

“They went to attack Haggar directly.”

“What?! That’s suicide!” Shuddering, I remember just what Haggar’s capable of, and I can’t imagine what she’d to Antok, Kolivan, and Allura. “I’m going after them!”

“Didn’t you just say that was suicide?!” Coran’s yell follows me as I fly through the hallways to retrieve my Bayard and helmet, but I ignore it.

Putting on my helmet, I hear Keith say, “Something’s wrong with Shiro.”

“Keith!”

“Adam?! You’re alive!”

“Heh, it takes more than that to kill me,” I say, laughing. “We’re all okay. Does anyone know what’s happening to Takashi?”

“He said Zarkon was trying to control his lion right before Zarkon hit us and made us disband, and now he’s not responding!”

“I’ll be right there,” I say, “but I have to help Allura and the Blades first. Keep Zarkon away from the black lion for as long as you can- I’ll fly in and try to get through to Takashi. Rely on your instincts and each other, and you can’t fail. Now go protect Takashi!”

“Yeah!” I see the lions spring into action as I approach the belly of the ship. Thanks to my enhanced eyesight, I can see Allura and Kolivan sparring together with a Druid while Antok fights one on his own. But on a platform behind Antok, I can see Haggar, eyes focused on the Blade, readying a lightning bolt to strike him—

“NO!” Suddenly, my Bayard transforms into a long, slender bow. I pull the string back and an arrow made of purple light appears, which I shoot at Haggar.

While I don’t hit her, my arrow certainly distracts her from Antok, which was the goal. But there’s no way I can make it up there in time to stop her from readying another blow.

Just as that thought crosses my mind, the purple trail of light that followed the arrow from the bow to the wall it hit seems to condense, and suddenly I’m being pulled rapidly by the bow towards my arrow. I cling on for dear life as I get closer and closer to the floating platform that Haggar’s on.

Unfortunately, this new grappling hook feature of my Bayard didn’t come with instructions on how to slow down or stop, so I end up whizzing right past Haggar. Then, just as I’m about to hit the wall, I shoot another arrow down at the platform she’s on, hoping the bow will pull me down there.

A second before I become an Adam pancake against the side of Zarkon’s ship, the bow finally pulls me towards the platform. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to make a cool landing in front of her, but then I realize I still don’t know how to stop. I end up crashing into her and knocking her down, and for a moment we’re frozen together.

Her yellow eyes squint at me with pure hatred, but I realize something about her. Her hood’s been knocked off to reveal elvish ears and the tops of the extended red markings on her cheeks, which look an awful lot like—

Before I know it, the moment’s over, and she falls on the platform while I hurdle off into space. Finally I use my jetpack to slow myself down and I see the lions being zapped by Zarkon’s robot, which is getting steadily closer to the black lion.

“Here goes nothing,” I groan, then fire an arrow at the black lion. I zip through space towards her, and she opens her mouth to catch me. But this time, I’ve learned a bit, so I fire my jetpack at maximum speed in the opposite direction I’m moving to slow myself down.

When I get to the cockpit I find an unconscious Takashi in the pilot’s seat. I yell his name and shake him until he starts moving. His half closed eyes finally settle on me, then open wide. Takashi jumps up and grabs me by the shoulders then says, “You’re alive?! Adam! You’re alive!”

“Yeah, everyone in the castle’s okay. But the paladins are in trouble.”

Takashi sighs and says, “It’s just... I don’t know how to get Zarkon out of the black lion. I don’t know if I can do it.”

“Takashi.” I look deep into his eyes and say, “You don’t have to do it alone. I’m here, okay?”

“But aren’t you scared?”

“I’m terrified, Takashi! But I believe in the lions, and more importantly, I believe in you. We can do this— together.” Suddenly, a glowing slot rises up out of the controls. “Huh? What’s that mean?”

“It means it’s time to get my Bayard back. Hold on tight, Adam.” I grab onto the nearest control panel and cling on for dear life. The lion starts to accelerate, and I can feel her and Takashi’s connection.

Suddenly, I’m seeing through the black lion’s eyes into the Astral Plane. I can feel Takashi, Vi, and Black besides me, and the four of us rush towards Zarkon in the Astral Plane. I sense the wings of the black lion, the ones Takashi told me about, form, and the two lions roar.We pass right through Zarkon, and when I find myself back in the cockpit, Takashi is triumphantly holding the Black Bayard.

“Whoa! What did you do?!”

Takashi grins and replies, “I’ve got Zarkon’s— no, my Bayard. Alright, we’ve only got a few minutes left until power returns.”

“Oh! Takashi, are we going to form Voltron?!”

“Yep,” he says, smiling. “You’d better get to your lion, paladin.”

I beam back, then give him a passionate kiss on the lips. “I love you, Takashi.”

“I love you too, Adam.”

I rush to the purple cockpit and, once I’m seated, I yell, “Form Voltron!”

((((Hey, it’s me. The author. If you read my mini-fic from back before s8, you may remember my feelings about describing the Voltron transformation. Those feelings haven’t changed at all, so if you really want to know what the transformation sequence looks like, go watch an episode of the show. Like 90% of them show the transformation. What you need to know here is that Shiro’s in the head and Adam is in the blue “v” part of the chest (because they’re like the head and the heart, remember chapter 13?) Now, carry on reading.))))

After sparring with mecha-Zarkon for a couple of minutes, I notice that a slot similar to the one I saw in the black cockpit has popped up next to me. Inside my head, Vi says, _The two of you can defeat him now. Hurry!_

“Takashi, now!” I punch my Bayard into place and I can feel Takashi doing the same The sword in Voltron’s hand becomes supercharged with purple and black flames, and we impale Zarkon’s machine with it.

A huge purple ball of electricity shoots out from the wreckage, heading straight for us. Before I can react, Vi says, _You have been the best paladin I could have ever asked for. I hope someday you can forgive me for what I need to do now._  

“Wh—“

 _Goodbye, Adam_.

Just as the blast is about to hit, I’m forcefully ejected from the purple cockpit, which seals shut behind me. The color drains out of the door and within seconds it’s just a regular wall. The only remnant is an extraordinary purple crystal lying at my feet. I try to reach out to Vi, but there’s no response so I run up to the black cockpit, expecting to find my fiancé there.

But the only thing in the pilot’s seat is Takashi’s gold engagement ring. The black Bayard lies discarded on the floor, and Takashi is nowhere to be seen. I press the golden ring against my lips. It’s still warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you wanna know how much I hated having to write this chapter? I started writing a whole ass nother fic (called Picking up Your Pieces, in case you want to know) bc I didn’t want to write this chapter. I HATE this chapter.
> 
> but hey at least Antok lived  
> also Adam has a cool new Bayard form  
> and now that I have this chapter done, I CAN FINALLY START WITH LOTOR
> 
> The chapter after this is going to be, well... different. It’s going to be the only one of its kind. 
> 
> :( I’m sad now  
> I’m going to bed
> 
> Thanks for reading ily all sm


	29. An unexpected visitor: Shiro

I wake up in a field of wild heather in bloom. Sitting up, I observe my surroundings. The purple flowers are all around me in some sort of valley surrounded by lush, green mountains. In the middle of all of this, there’s a bench nearby with a girl sitting on it, her back to me.

 

“Hey, Shiro,” she says as I approach her, not turning around. “Come on, have a seat.” She’s slightly taller than average and is wearing a simple outfit with a red scarf wrapped around her neck. Beneath her glasses, her eyes shine as she looks out across the valley. I’ve never seen her before in my life, but still I sit next to her, more curious than afraid. After all, how can I be afraid after what just happened to me?

 

After a moment I ask, “Are you... God?” She turns to look at me then laughs uproariously.

 

“Certainly not,” she wheezes, wiping a tear from her eye. “My name’s Leyser. So you don’t know me?” I shake my head. “Ah, well, I guess I’m not surprised.”

 

“Sorry, but who are you?”

 

“You can consider me an observer, someone who can look in to your universe and see what’s happening without being inside it. I don’t really have much influence over it, though— it’s driven by you guys and your actions.”

 

“So you saw what happened to me?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“... So, you saw that I... died?”

 

“Wait, you think you’re dead? Is that why you thought I was God?”

 

“Am I not dead?!”

 

“Technically not. See, when that big purple blast came and disintegrated you—“

 

“So I did die!”

 

“You didn’t let me finish,” she huffs, glaring at me. “So anyways, before he was even conscious of it, your boyfriend made a wish in that instant.”

 

“Which was...?”

 

“To protect you. And to grant his wish, the purple lion sacrificed herself so you could take her place inside of the black lion’s consciousness, turning herself into an energy crystal in the process.”

 

“So are we in the black lion right now?”

 

“Nah. Right now, you’re too weak to even exist there. I guess we’re in between our universes. I think I’m in surgery right now, so I’m knocked out cold and that’s how I can appear here. If I were somewhere like this in my universe, I’d be too busy sneezing to enjoy the view.”

 

“Do you know how long it’s been since I... y’know...”

 

“About a month. A couple days after it happened, Adam went back to the Blades and has been looking for you ever since. Voltron hasn’t been formed since it happened because none of the paladins can pilot the black lion.”

 

“Not even Keith?” She shakes her head. “But if I’m stuck in the black lion, who’ll be the black paladin?”

 

“Are you for real?! Come on, I’ve been foreshadowing this since chapter seven!”

 

“Uh, what?”

 

“Never mind,” she says, sighing and adjusting her glasses. “You’ll find out soon enough.” Before I can ask her what she means by that, she says, “You won’t be here much longer, the black lion’s pulling you back. Don’t ask me how I know that.

 

“You’re going to have a long, hard journey ahead of you, Shiro. But you have to remember who you’re fighting for. Who do you want to get back for?”

 

“Adam. And Keith.”

 

“Great! Is that all?”

 

“Well, the other paladins, of course, and Allura and Coran,” I add. She looks at me expectantly, so I say, “My, uh... my cats? Look, if you’re expecting me to say my family, that’s not gonna happen. They cut me off after I came out and—“

 

She cups my face in her hands and says, “YOU! The answer is you! If you don’t want to make it back for yourself, you’re not going back! Now repeat after me: I’m fighting for me.”

 

“I’m fighting for me?”

 

“Seriously? Even I have more of a will to live than that. Try it again.”

 

“I’m fighting for me.”

 

“Come on!”

 

“I want to live! I’m fighting for me!”

 

“Yeah! Now go get ‘em!” She waves to me and the valley starts to fade away. “It was nice meeting you, even though I’ll probably never see you again! Good luck, Shiro!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i’m back
> 
> thought I’d come in and explain what was happening a bit and motivate Shiro (literally. I came into the fic solely for this chapter and will not appear again. fourth wall? I don’t know her)
> 
> so Keith isn’t going to become the black paladin right now? gosh, I wonder who the black paladin is gonna be?
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER I GET TO START WRITING LOTOR HELL YEAH I’M SO PUMPED HERE COMES MY PURPLE BOY!!!!!!!!
> 
> when I was talking about Shiro disintegrating, all I could think of was infinity war
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!!!! I think since I’m actually excited for the next few chapters and there’s not one I’m dreading, the chapters should come more quickly yeet


	30. Changing of the guard

It’s been a long, hard phoeb. My search for Takashi has led me nowhere. As far as anyone knows, he simply vanished.

The good news is that I haven’t heard anything about Zarkon. The Blades and the paladins have been working together to liberate planets from the Empire’s control with surprisingly little Galra resistance. Most of the Blades are out fighting on contested planets to try and make up for Voltron’s absence.

As for me, I’ve been put on a special mission to find Takashi. Which is good because I would’ve done so anyway without Kolivan’s permission.

I’m pretty sure I know where Kolivan thinks Takashi is— in the afterlife. I haven’t been able to reach him in the Astral Plane and whenever I try to, the black lion shows up in front of me, giving me no answers whatsoever. Also, the chances of Takashi surviving a direct hit from the magic that blew Voltron apart are slim at most.

And yet… I know this sounds crazy, but I have this gut feeling that he’s out there somewhere. A couple days after it happened, I was in the Astral Plane trying to find him when I begged for someone, anyone to give me a sign that he’s still out there somewhere. Just as I’d fallen to my knees, the purple crystal left behind by my lion (which I now wear on a necklace, along with Takashi’s ring) started to glow really intensely. So I took that as my sign to keep searching.

I’m in the Astral Plane again and I try to reach out for Takashi, but again, the black lion shows up. I groan and say, “What do you want from me?! If you aren’t going to help me, why do you keep showing up when I’m trying to look for him?” As usual, the black lion says nothing and stays motionless. I cross my arms and try to stomp away from her, but somehow I just end up right back in front of her. “Oh come on! I’m trying to find him, and he’s clearly not here, so why do you keep getting in my way?! Don’t you want your paladin back?!”

When I say the word “paladin”, her eyes light up and I’m suddenly standing in the castle of lions. Angrily I yell, “He’s not here either!” Coran and Allura, who are at the castle’s controls, don’t show any sign of hearing me. Muttering curses under my breath, I examine the main screen. It looks like the four working lions have been sent out to defend a planet in distress, but before they can reach it, a Galra ship warps right in front of them. It’s an odd looking ship, not one I’ve seen the Empire use before, but I don’t think it’s friendly.

“Attention, paladins of Voltron,” an unfamiliar voice says. “This is Prince Lotor, son of Zarkon, Emperor pro-tempore of the Galra Empire. Surrender now or you will be destroyed.” At this, a fleet of Galra troopers flies out and starts to attack the paladins.

I gasp and leap out of the pod, surprising Ulaz, Thace, Antok, and Kolivan, who are talking nearby. I run over to them and shout, “Who the hell is Prince Lotor?!”

“He is Zarkon’s son,” Thace says.

“Yeah, he said that just before he started attacking the paladins!” Hastily I explain to them what I saw in the Astral Plane then ask, “How old is he?”

“At least seven thousand deca-phoebs.”

“Ah, shit. I think he’s the one my grandma warned me about! Oh man, this is bad, this is bad...” I start to pace anxiously, and Antok gently pats my shoulder.

“It will be alright, Adam,” he says reassuringly.

“I have to go to them,” I say.

“Adam, are you sure that is wise? What if Lotor had some unknown connection to your ancestor that will make him want to harm you?”

“That’s a risk I have to take, Ulaz,” I say, meeting his eyes. “I have to protect them. They need me.”

Just then, a lion’s roar echoes from the pod I just exited, and suddenly I’m back in the Astral Plane with the four other blades. The black lion is sitting in front of us, and I walk towards her as she lowers her head to me. I rest my hand on her snout and her yellow eyes light up.

As fast as it happened, it’s over, and we’re back in the pod room. For the first time, I see something like a smile cross Kolivan’s face. “You have a new mission, Adam. The black lion has chosen you as its paladin. Go. Make us proud.”

I salute him and say, “I won’t let you down, sir.” Then I grab my black backpack and start to run towards the hangar, shouting, “I’ll be back soon! I promise!”

Allura left one of the Castle’s pods with the ability to create small wormholes at the base with us, so that’s my best bet for getting back to them. Fortunately for me, it has a “go home” function that locks on to the Castle’s location so I don’t have to worry about entering the coordinates. I zoom out of the base and into my wormhole, and in no time I’m at the castle. Quickly, I send a hailing signal to Allura.

“Allura! I came as soon as I could,” I say when she pops up on the screen.

“Have you found Shiro? We need Voltron!”

“No, I haven’t found him. But Black reached out to me in the Astral Plane. Allura, the new black paladin... is me.” A side door on the Castle opens (much to Allura’s surprise) and the black lion shoots out, scooping my pod up in her mouth. I enter the cockpit and leap into the pilot’s seat, which slides forwards to the control panel. The whole system lights up and I hear the others over coms.

“Keith, what should we do?!”

“I don’t know, Pidge! We need to form Voltron, but we’re short a lion!”

“Not anymore,” I say, pushing on Black’s thrusters. Ducking and weaving through the enemy fleet, I push my way through until I’m right in front of the main ship. The lion’s head is pushed right up against the ship, and I’m looking at four very surprised Galra women. I lock eyes with a lean figure reclining in the captain’s seat, who I’m assuming must be Lotor. His eyes widen as he stares at me and I give him the finger. Then I springboard off of his ship and jump back to where the other lions are. “Sorry for the wait, guys. Now are you ready to kick some ass?”

But before we can commence the ass-kicking, Lotor’s entire fleet hyperdrives away. I shrug and say, “Well, alright then. Apparently we’re gonna have to take a rain check. Go inside and rest up, everyone— you’ve earned it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN FORESHADOWING SINCE CH7
> 
> BP ADAM BP ADAM BP ADAM BP ADAM BP ADAM BP ADAM
> 
> Adam flipping off Lotor the first time he ever sees him? honestly iconic
> 
> THANKS FOR READING


	31. Adam's messages: Shiro

LOG 1, QUINTANT 1

_Hello! This is Adam Shirogane, member of the Blade of Marmora and, as of about a week ago, the current black paladin of Voltron. Lance suggested that I should keep a journal of my adventures as black paladin. Maybe someday I’ll write a memoir or something._

_Despite my and Keith’s best efforts, Takashi is still nowhere to be found. It’s... different here without him. I’m not as good of a leader as him, so I’m scared I’ll let the team down. They keep telling me I’m doing great, but I have this burning thought in the back of my mind that if anything happens to them, that’s on me._

_Anyway... I guess I should say what I’ve done so far as black paladin, huh? Well... the only thing I’ve done that’s notable is I flipped Lotor off. Not really the best first impression to make on who’s next in line for the Galra throne— but it’s not like he knows what the finger means anyway, right?_

_I’ve spent the few quintants since then practicing flying with Black, and lemme tell you, she’s leagues better than any ship I’ve ever flown. And she has all these cool weapons and capabilities I’d never dreamed of! We haven’t formed Voltron yet though... we’re saving that for tomorrow._  

_..._

_Ah, jeez... it’s weird just sitting here talking to myself, alone in the black lion...._

_..._

_Well, uh... Adam Shirogane here, signing off._

I don’t know how many times I’ve replayed this video. I’d been sitting in the Astral Plane for I don’t know how long before it came in. There were a couple times where I could sense Adam searching for me, but he couldn’t hear me, no matter how loud I screamed for him. My presence must still be too weak.

But when I was sitting in the Astral Plane trying to figure out how long I’d been in here, that video of him suddenly popped up. As soon as I saw his face, I’d immediately started to sob. It was so refreshing to see him, hear his voice, know that he’s alright... but it was also heartbreaking because I still can’t reach him. It served as a reminder of what I’m fighting for.

When I’d been watching the video sometime earlier, I’d felt a significant shift in the energy of the lion, which I assume came from the team forming Voltron. Sure enough, soon after I felt the shift, another video came in. This time, Adam’s grinning ecstatically at the camera and is talking super fast and with his hands, like he always does when he’s excited.

 

LOG 2, QUINTANT 2

_HOLY MARMORA, WE DID IT! WE ACTUALLY FORMED VOLTRON! I was like, “Okay guys, I know I’m not Takashi, and I’ll never be the leader he is. I need your help to do this. We’re a team, right?” and then they were all like “Yeah!” and WE DID IT!!! We actually formed Voltron!_

Adam giggles like a little kid, hiding his face in his hands, and for the first time since getting trapped here, I smile. There’s something so infectious about his enthusiasm that I can’t help but get a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. But as I watch, his laughter fades and he sighs, gazing downwards.

_I wish Takashi was here to see it._

… 

_Dammit, I’m not going to cry on camera!_

The video ends abruptly, and I shake my head. “Adam, honey,” I whisper into the silence, “there’s no need to be ashamed. I... I appreciate that you still care.”

~ ~ ~

LOG 3, QUINTANT 8

_Hey… it’s been a few quintants since my last log. I tried recording some stuff but it was just too weird, sitting here talking to myself. So! I asked Lance what I should do, and that little genius suggested that I make these logs into messages for Takashi! So I’m going to try that now!_

_Hello, Takashi. If you’re seeing this, that means you’ve made it back to Voltron. Great job! I hope I’m there with you to enjoy these logs, but if I’m not, well, at least you have these logs. If you think I’m dead, I’m probably not because, knowing myself, I would’ve found a way to survive. Frankly, I’m a bit offended if you think I’m dead— have you no faith in me?_  

_Anyway, I’m sure you’ve seen the two previous logs, so I won’t bother recapping what happened. But between then and now, I’ve had some time to do some research, and it seems like Lotor is the only prince in the Galra Empire, and he’s lived almost as long as Zarkon. According to Kolivan, Lotor got banished from the Empire thousands of years ago, but nobody knows why. Maybe he was hunting down any remaining Alteans to reclaim his honor, kinda like Zuko in Avatar, and that’s why Grandma was so worried?_

_When I was imprisoned, there was a definite shift in Haggar’s attitude towards me. Like, she went from letting Sendak test his new arm on me as punishment to suddenly not even making me fight in the gladiator ring and instructing the guards to not hurt me. Maybe that’s because that’s when she found out I was Altean?_

_I guess I still have a lot of questions. If you were here, you’d be telling me what I always would tell you— patience yields focus._

_..._

_I miss you, sweetie. Please come home soon._  

 

LOG 4, QUINTANT 10

 _Hey, Takashi! Today was, uh... interesting, to say the least. We got a distress call from Olkarion— a real one this time, not a set up like the incident earlier this week. Or wait, was that last week? Anyway, my old friend Branko— remember him?— tried to retake Olkarion, so we had to kick his ass out of there. I have to admit, it was pretty refreshing to beat his cruiser up in the black lion._  

 _But then we realized Lotor was there in his battle cruiser! He didn’t really seem to want to fight us, though— he was just watching. Kinda creepy if you ask me. As soon as we defeated Branko, he just left. Didn’t even attack Olkarion or anything. Weird, right? But hey, I’m not complaining..._  

 

LOG 8, QUINTANT 57

 _... Those two idiots are pining for each other so hard, but they’re both absolutely blind. I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. This is day one of Operation: get Lance and Keith together, also known as Operation Kick. Don’t ask me why I called it that, I’m not so sure myself..._  

 

LOG 13, QUINTANT 121

_... Had to give an inspirational speech today on a newly liberated planet. I almost shit my pants right there on stage, I was so nervous. Takashi, you would’ve been so much better at that than me. But the good news is, I saw Keith and Lance holding hands when they thought no one was looking..._

In this way, I come to be connected with the outside world. I’m happy to see how Adam’s growing into his role, and slowly, very slowly, I realize I’m starting to recover. I can’t do much in terms of communication, but I can control little things in the black lion. For example, Adam was putting his feet on the dashboard the other day, and I was able to give him a slight electric shock. You should’ve seen how high he jumped!

But one day, the logs suddenly stop. At first, I think nothing of it, but as time goes on, I start to grow worried. Adam’s last log said that there’d been an Altean distress signal the team picked up on and they were tracking it down. It was Adam’s twenty-first log, and it had been made a hundred eighty-nine days after his first one.

After what seems like an eternity, a new log pops up. Relieved beyond words, I open it up, expecting an explanation from Adam.

But instead of Adam, Allura sits in the black lion, looking sadly into the camera. My heart drops to the pit of my stomach. 

 

LOG 22, QUINTANT 229

 _As of a varga ago, I am the new black paladin. In Adam’s absence, the lion chose me to lead Voltron. Surprisingly, it did not respond to Shiro, who has returned._  

“Wait, what?! I haven’t returned!”

_Keith found him soon after Adam had been taken._

“‘Taken’?! Taken where?!” 

 _As happy as we are to see Shiro safe and sound, we’re all a bit concerned about him. He’s acting strangely, and the black lion didn’t even acknowledge him when he tried to pilot her._  

“THAT’S NOT ME! I’M STILL TRAPPED IN HERE!” 

_But then again, he has just escaped from Galra prison. And I’m sure hearing that Adam has been captured by Lotor didn’t help his mental state._

I fall to my knees, ears ringing. I can see that Allura’s still talking, but I can’t hear her any more. “Please, no,” I whisper, tears spilling out of my eyes. I start to sob and pull at my hair, then I scream, “ADAM!” 

And suddenly, he’s there in the Astral Plane with me. Adam’s eyes widen and his jaw drops when he sees me, and he runs to me.

“Takashi?! How’d you reach me? I’m imprisoned right now—“

“Are you okay?!” 

“Heh, yeah. I’m a professional by now. I’m fine,” he laughs. Then, sounding more concerned, he asks, “But how are you?! _Where_ are you?! You’re alive, right?” I nod before I can really think about my answer, and he sighs in relief. “I knew it! Now where—“ 

Just as quickly as he appeared, he vanishes, and a wave of excruciating pain rushes over me. _Ah, shit. I must’ve pushed myself too hard,_ I think to myself, feeling seriously woozy. I try to move a tiny speck of dust across the cockpit of the black lion. It doesn’t budge.

I guess it’s gonna take a while for me to get my strength back after that stunt, but hey, it was worth it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> adam can you PLEASE stop getting kidnapped for like FIVE MINUTES
> 
> black paladin allura is a god tier concept and vld were cowards not to give her to us
> 
> so yeah adam’s with lotor now  
> he’s gonna explain how he got in this situation in the next chapter
> 
> let’s hope lotor doesn’t harvest his quintessence
> 
> THANKS FOR READING


	32. I meet myself and also Lotor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey!! Sorry this chapter took so long, I had a focal seizure last week. I’m fine, but recovery’s been hard, so I haven’t been writing much. Sorry!

Look, I know what you’re probably thinking. But this time I want to be caught.

I know that sounds like a shitty excuse. Let me explain.

See, it all started a few quintants ago, just before we received the Altean distress signal. I’d gone back to the Blades at Kolivan’s request for me, and I was really excited to see all my friends again. They were pumped to see me too, and they’d all marveled at the black lion. Apparently, Ulaz and Thace had been bragging nonstop about me becoming “the pride and joy of the Blades” when I stepped into the role of black paladin, and they’d hyped up the lion’s size, capabilities, and speed. So naturally, everyone wanted a ride. The twins, Ilaz and Ilun, were the first ones to ask, but most of the other blades ended up cramming themselves in with me for a quick flight around the supermassive blue star.

After the flight, Antok and I went to meet Ulaz and Thace in the cafeteria, where we caught up. I told them about my adventures as black paladin while they explained a mission they’d gone on, which turned out to be of particular interest to me. It was just a simple recovery mission but I was interested in who they recovered, and at my request, they led me to her.

“Krolia!” Sure enough, my two space dads brought Krolia back from wherever she’d been based, believing she had a lead on a certain type of quintessence Kolivan had been searching for. She looked up at my call, then smiled at me.

“Hello, Adam! It’s been a while!” She walked over to me and said, “I hear you’re the black paladin of Voltron now? Is that true?”

“Yeah. Hey, I have a question for you. Your son... his name wouldn’t happen to be Keith Kogane, would it?” Krolia stiffened and stared at me, wide eyed. “Yeah, I thought so.”

“You... know him?”

“Yup. He’s like my little brother. My boyfriend and I took him in and helped raise him. Now he’s the red paladin of Voltron.” Blinking tears out of her eyes, she grinned at me.

“I couldn’t be more proud. Thank you.” Right then, Kolivan appeared, beckoning for Krolia and I to follow him. He led us to a private meeting room, one I hadn’t been in before. I started to wonder if I’d ever see the entirety of the base, but Kolivan’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

In usual Kolivan fashion, he got right down to business by saying, “We have information on Shiro’s whereabouts.”

“What?! Really?!”

“Yes, but there are some... suspicious circumstances surrounding his escape. Krolia, you will need to stay with the paladins and keep an eye on him.”

“What about me? Won’t I be there to make sure he’s alright?” Kolivan stood quietly for a moment, then shifted his feet.

“We need someone to infiltrate Lotor’s central command, and fast,” he finally says.

“Me? Aren’t I too high profile for stealth missions? My face is plastered all over the Empire, anyone would recognize me.”

“That is the point.” I stared at him blankly. “Lotor will capture you, and after a brief time in his custody, you will report all you know to us.”

“Uhhh... I’m sorry, what? You want me to intentionally get caught by him?”

“Lotor is far too clever to do any harm to you. If you were to be killed, he knows he would have the entirety of the Voltron Coalition as well as the Blades to deal with. He certainly knows of your value to Haggar, too.”

“And that’s a good thing?”

“He has a burning hatred for Haggar and would love nothing more than to have something to dangle over her head. You would be the ultimate prize for him.”

“He hates Haggar, huh? Now that’s interesting... didn’t you say he’d been banished, too?”

“Indeed.” An idea started to form in the back of my mind involving Lotor, and I sighed, knowing I was about to make a really stupid decision.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Adam, are you sure about this? I’ve been a Blade for over a hundred deca-phoebs, but I’ve never been assigned such a risky mission,” Krolia said.

“Don’t worry, ma’am, I’m a professional,” I said, causing Krolia to raise an eyebrow.

“At what?”

“Being a prisoner. I’ve got this. But here, take this.” I offered her my knife. After a moment’s hesitation, she took it from me. “If the light starts to fade, you’re allowed to come for me. Until then, I’m on my own. Got it?”

“What will I tell the paladins?”

“Nothing,” Kolivan answered. “We don’t know how many spies Lotor has, and if he finds out Adam was sent by us, Adam will be in serious danger. No one else is to know about this mission. Understood?” Krolia and I nodded, and Kolivan indicated that we were dismissed.

So that’s how it started. But before I tell you how it happened, there’s something else I have to mention.

Before I left the base and said goodbye to everyone, Antok showed me a few things he found at a different space mall than the one I’d been to. I was surprised to find that someone had been mass producing paladin plushies and that they’d made one of me. Antok had bought at least twenty-five of them, and, just for the hell of it, I gave one of them a kiss goodnight, then whispered something my grandma always would say in the forest. Why I did this is beyond me, but for whatever reason, I did it. Grandma never told me what it meant or even what language it was in, but she always said it before I went to bed, too, so I assumed it was some sort of blessing.

A few vargas after that, I was back at the Castle when we received the Altean distress signal. So we formed Voltron, went into what turned out to be another reality, and recovered a comet made of the same stuff Voltron is made of. It was pretty cool to be there, but alternate reality Takashi (aka Sven) kept awkwardly flirting with me. Then he told us how the Altean Empire was evil and they would use the comet to take over other dimensions, so we had to stop that from happening.

But guess who showed up and snatched the comet from us right after that? Yup, Lotor took what we’d rightfully stolen as soon as we returned, so we’d chased him for the past few quintants, but today I decided to take things into my own hands. Keith had gone off to try and find Takashi while Pidge went to go look for Matt, so I left the Castle in the black lion under the guise of looking for Takashi.

The comet tracker leads me to a Galra outpost where a large cruiser is docked, but there’s no sign of Lotor’s ship. I park Black in a mountain range on the planet, then board the cruiser, where the comet’s signal is the strongest.

Walking through the cruiser, I notice a significant lack of guards and sentries. If this is Lotor’s ship, it’s seriously under-protected.

The tracker leads me towards a large purple and black ship which looks significantly different from any other Galra craft I’ve seen. It actually looks more similar to Lotor’s ships than anything else, which indicates that I’m in the right place.

Suddenly, purple light washes over me and I flinch, expecting the worst. But after a moment, I realize I haven’t been turned to a pile of ash. The light is coming from outside the window— it must be the ship’s tractor beam, but what are they using it on?

Before I can find out, a voice says, “Hey! I think I figured it out!” I spin around wildly, trying to find the source of the voice, but no one’s here. “Quit it, me! You’ll throw me out of your bag!” A quick search of my bag leads to me pulling out the plushie Antok had. It glowers at me and squeaks, “Well, do you want to hear it or not?”

“What the— who are you?!”

“I’m you, dumbass! After you kissed me the other day, I came to life with all of your memories and knowledge, so I hitched onto your bag when you weren’t looking. Now don’t worry, I’ve had time to think about how this happened. I think what Grandma said must’ve been a spell or something, and you must’ve put some of your life force into me!”

I blink at the little plushie in my hand, who’s grinning proudly at me, hands on his hips. “So you’re like... a tiny Adam?” He crosses his arms and puffs out his cheeks, glaring at me.

“You’re not even going to react to the fact you can do magic?! You put a piece of yourself into a fifteen centimeter tall stuffed toy which can withstand the vacuum of spa— what the hell is that?!” A huge shadow passes in front of the window, and we both look outside to see something surprisingly familiar. “Is that...”

“The Teladuv from when we fought Zarkon,” I finish. “What’s it doing here? And why would Lotor want it?”

“Doesn’t matter! If Lotor wants it, we gotta destroy it!”

“Right! Good thinking, tiny Adam!” I run over to the ion cannon controls, but then I hesitate for a moment. Tiny Adam looks up at me knowingly. “You thinking what I’m thinking, little guy?”

“I should get back to the paladins and let them know you’re okay. You mind giving me a boost into that air vent?” I put him up there and he waves to me. I give him a little wave back, then he disappears into the vent.

I carefully aim the ion cannon at the Teladuv, then I fire. The purple beam of light shatters the Teladuv into a million pieces which sparkle as they fall to the ground.

Knowing that it’s only a matter of time before Lotor comes down to investigate, I hop into the ship to try and look for the comet. But when I head inside, the detector goes crazy, and I’m led to a wild conclusion. “The ship.. is the comet?”

“Nice observation,” a woman’s voice says behind me. I turn to see two Galra women pointing their guns at me.

One of them grins at me and says, “You’re a smart one, aren’t you?”

“Look, I know I should be scared or something, but honestly I’m just really impressed,” I say. “You put this whole ship together in just a few quintants? That’s amazing!”

“I appreciate your compliments, paladin,” another voice says, and the Prince himself steps out of the shadows. “So you’re the one who destroyed the Teladuv. You must have tracked the comet to get here. I assume the rest of your friends are here as well?”

“No, I came alone. I know you’re probably not going to believe that, but it’s true. Sure, you can go ahead and search the rest of the ship, or the rest of the base for that matter, but it’ll be a waste of time. Actually, it’ll probably be worse for you if you stay, because the paladins can track the black lion to this solar system and they’ll probably attack you if you’re still here then.”

Another Galra woman in the same armor bursts in and says, “Lotor! There’s no sign of any other intruders on the ship. Can we launch now?”

“See? Told you,” I say. Lotor looks at me, then at the new woman, then back at me. “Are you really Zarkon’s son?”

“Yes,” he says, looking at me quizzically.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt out before I can stop myself. Lotor clearly wasn’t expecting that response. His eyes widen and his jaw goes slack, and one of the women who’d initially caught me rushes at me.

“How dare you speak to Prince Lotor that way!”

Her fist flies towards me but Lotor yells, “Axca, wait!” She freezes for a moment, glaring at me, and I cross my arms, glaring right back at her. Finally, she steps back behind Lotor and I get up, dusting myself off. “You… what did you mean by that?”

“Well, I just felt like it might be a bit, y’know, hard to be Zarkon’s son. My dad was rough on me growing up, but I can’t imagine what you must’ve been through with him as your father,” I say, staring into his shocked eyes. It seems like no one’s ever said anything like this to him before.

“… You remind me of someone,” he murmurs, examining me. I try to sit there and look like I have no clue who I might remind him of. Finally he looks away and says, “Take him to the brig. He is not to be harmed unless I explicitly order it, am I understood?”

“But Lotor—“

“AM I UNDERSTOOD?!”

“Yes, Lotor,” the women say. The biggest of the three looks extremely disappointed. As they lead me away, I take a look back at Lotor. He’s squinting at me, probably still trying to figure out who I remind him of. I hope he doesn’t figure it out for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kolivan: adam go get captured by Lotor  
> Adam, who has no sense of self-preservation: ok  
> Krolia: wtf
> 
> the person Adam reminds lotor of is Shirazad, but you don’t know why that’s important yet
> 
> also the reason Lotor straight up just left the black lion is bc he didn’t want to be tracked through it
> 
> TINY ADAM TINY ADAM TINY ADAM TINY ADAM TINY ADAM TINY ADAM TINY ADAM!!!!!!! I love him
> 
> thanks for reading ily


	33. I assert my dominance (through t-posing and other methods)

It doesn’t take long for me to realize that Lotor’s never had a prisoner before. At first, I’m locked in what would be the soldier’s quarters in a normal cruiser. My hands were cuffed in front of me, but they didn’t disable my eye or my leg. It took me no time to kick through the cuffs with my leg, and I easily pried off an air grate and hung around in the vents.

I manage to crawl over to the control room where Lotor and his crew were talking about what they should do next.

“Shouldn’t we try to get some information out of him?! He’ll know where Voltron will be!”

“Patience, Zethrid,” Lotor replies. “If we have him, Voltron will come to us.” I notice a red alarm on one of the screens which they all have their backs to.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I think you’re being followed,” I call out. The five of them jump and scramble for their weapons. “Woah, chill! I just thought you’d want to know. Looks like it’s a Galra ship, judging from the signal it’s giving. It’s on the computer behind the girl with the rainbow hair— sorry, I don’t know your name, it’s—?”

“Ezor,” she replies, still looking around for me. Meanwhile, Lotor looks at the screen and frowns.

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Ezor. Now who’s the woman next t— oh my god, kitty!” The one girl who I don’t know the name of has a really cute cat. “Can I pet your cat? Pleeeease?”

“He’s right, we’re being followed. Looks like the witch sent another of her spies after us,” Acxa says. 

“Fine, come out and you can pet the cat. You can even give her a treat, if you’d like,” Lotor says, clearly irritated.

“I’ll go back to my cell afterwards, I promise,” is my response, to which Lotor seems to be surprised. “Come on, I’ve been a prisoner before, I know that once I come out you’re just gonna lock me up again. We don’t need to go through all of that again— so can I just pet the cat in peace, please? And giving her a treat would be great!”

“Uh.... sure?” Lotor seems at a loss for words. 

“Sweet!” I kick the grate I’ve been looking through, then slide through the opening to land on the ground. “I don’t believe we’ve all been formally introduced. I’m Adam.” I offer my hand to Lotor and each of the women around me in turn, and they hesitantly return my gesture. “Nice to meet you. Cat lady, what’s your name?” I reach out for her, but Lotor stops me.

“That’s Narti. She can control minds by touch, but cannot see or speak. Kova, the cat I gave to her, lets her experience the world around her.”

“Holy shit, you have mind-control powers?! That’s so cool!” Lotor hands me a small biscuit which I proceed to give to Kova. After taking the treat from me, Kova rubs her head against my hand and starts to purr. “I think she likes me,” I laugh as I pet her.

All five of them stare at me like I’ve grown a second head, and I sigh. “Look, I know the Galra have probably painted me as a bloodthirsty killer, but I’m not like that. I’ll go back to my room, but before I do, I just have one question. Why’s Haggar spying on you?” 

“She doesn’t trust me to run the empire in my father’s place, so she sends her little spies to make sure I don’t mess anything up while he recovers.”

“Shit, he’s still alive?!” Groaning, I say, “How many times do we have to kill him before he’s dead?!” I pout and cross my arms.

“Tell me about it,” Lotor mutters.

Seeing an opportunity, I say, “So, you hate both your father and Haggar, and they hate you? Seems like we have a few things in common, Prince Ligma. Are we really on opposite sides here?”

He examines me for a moment then smirks. “You’re an interesting one, aren’t you? And the name’s Lotor, not whatever you just said.”

“Okay, Prince Laxative, whatever you say.” He glares at me, evidently not liking his new nicknames. In spite of myself, I laugh, and Acxa speaks up.

“You’d better respect Prince Lotor, or—“

“Or what? You’re going to kill me? That’d be worse for you than for me, honestly.” 

“And how’s that?”

“First of all, if you killed me, the Voltron Coalition, not to mention the entire Blade of Marmora, would be out for your blood. You’d lose the only leverage you have right now over them. Oh yeah, and Haggar’d be pissed at you too if you kill me, her precious little experiment that she desperately wants back. But if you give me back to her, you’d lose leverage over her and you’d have the Blades and Voltron to worry about, and, of course, you’d be letting her win. So no, you’re not going to kill me, because you need me.”

I finish my statement with a smile, relishing in the surprised looks on their faces. Hell, even Narti and Kova look stunned. Grinning, I turn away from them and say, “I’ll be in my room if you need anything. Don’t bother handcuffing me— I’ll just get out again and you’ll have one less pair of cuffs. And don’t wait too long to stop by, okay? It can get lonely down there by myself.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you see this is why i had to have adam keep getting captured in the earlier chapters, so he would know what to do in this moment
> 
> P R I N C E L I G M A  
> (yes, adam’s fun nicknames for lotor will continue)
> 
> but yeah i had the whole adam getting caught by lotor thing planned out from the getgo and i love their dynamic!!! it’s going to grow to be very different than what it is now, but i think you’ll be happy with it!!!! 
> 
> THANKS FOR READING!!!


	34. Things get spicy

A few vargas later, Ezor comes to my room to announce that we’re going back on Lotor’s ship.

“Cool. So we’re ditching the cruiser?”

“Yep. You’ll have to come in the Sincline with us. Zethrid and I will be in the cargo hold with you, so please behave. I don’t want to get in trouble with Lotor.”

“That’s fair. Alright, go ahead and cuff me.” I hold out my hands to her, and she proceeds to restrain me.

“Not going to fight, huh?”

“Nah. You seem pretty cool, and I don’t want Prince Lasagna getting pissed at you because of something I did.” We start to walk down the hallway together towards the hangar.

“What’s lasagna?”

“It’s a type of food back on Earth. I could try and make you some if you want. Not sure how well I’ll do with all Galra ingredients, but hey, I’m pretty good at improvising.”

Lotor and the others are waiting for us in the hangar, and we board the Sincline together. As promised, Zethrid and Ezor sit with me in the cargo hold. It’s a fairly uneventful flight, but I notice something between my two guards. Once Zethrid leaves to prepare for docking, I nudge Ezor and say, “You like her, don’t you?”

“What? Oh, Zethrid? Yeah, she’s a great general—“

“No, you like like her.” At this, Ezor starts to turn pink. Well, pinker than normal. She starts to stammer in denial, but I laugh and say, “It’s okay, she’s crazy about you.”

“R— really?”

“Are you kidding me?! Did you see how she looked at you? She’s head over heels for you!”

“Let’s get you to your cell,” she says quickly, pulling me by my wrists. I sigh and walk along with her. As we walk, I notice what seems to be a second Sincline ship in construction.

The cell they’ve chosen for me is in the corner of the control room, which seems like a stupid choice to me. It’s like they’re begging me to escape. But of course, I keep my mouth shut, because I might actually need to escape. It’s a clear glass tube with a bed inside, and there’s a small trapdoor leading to a bathroom beneath. I head inside and Ezor closes the door behind me, but then opens a slot through it.

“Give me your hands,” she says, and I comply. She uncuffs me and I rub my wrists.

“Thanks.”

She starts to leave, but hesitates. Turning back to me, she says, “Do you really think Zethrid likes me back?”

“Of course! You’re the whole package, Ezor— cute, fun to be around, and totally kickass. From one homosexual to another, trust me— she’s totally in love with you.”

~ ~ ~

About three weeks pass without much action. Lotor asks me questions about the Blades and Voltron, some of which I answer truthfully. In my time here, I’ve become something like friends with the generals, especially Ezor. I’ve taught them a bit about Earth and have become the official ship cook.

Earlier today, Lotor and Narti went to see Haggar after receiving a summons from her. In the meantime, I’ve been playing Never Have I Ever with Ezor, Zethrid, and Acxa, and we’ve been having a pretty good time. few vargassuddenly, so I’ve been hanging out with Ezor, Zethrid, and Acxa. I’m just finishing a game of Never Have I Ever with them when they return.

“How’d it go? Are you fired?”

“I’m afraid I’ve been relieved of my command, yes.”

I ask, “Now what?”

“We continue working on the Sincline ships. Since I am no longer emperor, I can focus all of my resources on their creation.”

I’m about to say something back, but suddenly, the whole ship starts to shake and we both fall over. Zethrid rushes to the control panel and shouts, “Sir! We’re being attacked by a Galra fleet!”

Lotor seems unimpressed. “Tch. Stay here. I can handle this.” A minute later, I see one of the Sincline ships rush out to meet the enemy. Lotor starts to exchange fire with the cruiser, but suddenly, another fleet appears and starts blasting him and us.

All of the generals are preoccupied by the oncoming fleet except one. Narti is staring at me and, as if in a trance, slowly walks towards me. She starts to reach out and touch me, and I remember about her mind control powers and back away. I hear a chillingly familiar voice in my head say, “Come home, my champion.”

“Nope! Not doing that today,” I yell, then slip into the bathroom. Using my laser eye, I quickly cut an Adam-sized hole in the wall and burst into a hallway. I’ve seen enough maps of the ship to know that the hangar should be down the hall to the left, so I rush forwards. Sure enough, I was right, and I can see the second Sincline ship through the hangar door, which is closing on me. I summon my Bayard and use my grappling arrow to slide through the opening just before it closes and I run to the Sincline.

Once I’m out of Lotor’s cruiser, I start to fly as far away as I can, but then I see a huge flash of purple lighting. Wheeling around, I see both the other Sincline and Lotor’s cruiser immobilized. Despite my better judgement, I turn on coms.

Acxa’s voice says, “Sir, are you alright?”

“Ugh... The Sincline, it won’t move... Acxa, where are you?”

“The prisoner escaped and stole the second ship.” It’s Zethrid speaking now, and as I watch, the cruiser barely dodges a direct hit from an ion cannon. The left wing is ripped from the side of the cruiser. “How long until you regain power?”

“It’ll be at least a varga before the ship recovers fully. How about the cruiser?” A pitiful purple fire comes from the remaining engine and quickly sputters out.

“Useless,” Ezor replies. There’s static for a moment before she asks, “Lotor?”

“Dammit,” I mutter under my breath, knowing what I’m about is very, very stupid. Twelve cruisers are all lined up, ion cannons aimed at the two helpless ships.

“It’s been an honor flying with you all,” Lotor says. I take a deep breath, then fire the Sincline’s strongest cannon.

In one extended shot, all of the ion cannons are wiped out. I swoop in and use the tractor beam to tow Lotor’s ship towards the cruiser. Lotor starts to say, “Wha—“

“We don’t have much time,” I say to Lotor over coms. “I’m going to put your ship in the hangar. Get everyone on board as quick as possible and I’ll come back and get you. Oh, and by the way, Narti’s acting weird— she tried to mind control me, then Haggar’s voice spoke through her, so watch out for that.”

“Adam? You came back?” His voice is filled with disbelief.

“I guess so. Now hurry, before I change my mind!”

~ ~ ~

A couple minutes later, Lotor gives me the signal and I pull the ship into the tractor beam. I speed away from Lotor’s cruiser, but more and more Galra fleets are warping towards us, and dodging is a lot harder now that I’ve got another ship in tow.

“Prince Motrin, is anything working down there?!”

“Not yet, what do you need?”

“What I really need is a distraction,” I mutter. Just then, I see a large object on the radar and swerve to avoid it— but when I look behind me for it, there’s nothing there. For a moment, I’m confused, but I don’t have much time to ponder it.

I continue to perilously dodge the incoming fire, but I slowly realize that it’s dying down. I look behind us and see the wreckage of all of the fleets and breathe a sigh of relief.

“Well, at least that’s over. You guys okay down there?”

“Yeah,” Ezor says quietly. 

Suddenly, a radio broadcast comes in from Zarkon himself, declaring Lotor and his generals as enemies of the state. It ends with Zarkon saying Lotor should be killed on sight, and radio static fills the air.

“So are you going to turn us in?” Zethrid’s rough voice breaks the silence. Despite myself, I can’t help but chuckle at the question.

“You seem to have forgotten that I’m the most wanted criminal in the Empire. I couldn’t turn you in even if I wanted to.”

“And you don’t want to?”

“No.” I sigh and rub my temples. “So we’re wanted dead by the whole Empire, and all we have are these two ships. And we can’t go find Voltron because I don’t know where they are, oh, and also they’d probably kill us on sight because they recognize the ships.

“I know we’re supposed to be on opposite sides or whatever, but we’re in this mess together. We need to work with each other to survive this.” In the silence that follows, I realize I should probably figure out what’s going to happen next. Checking the star maps, I realize that we’re not too far away from Xerion, an Earth-like planet which Voltron freed from the Galra. “And I think I know where we can start.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey  
> sorry for not updating  
> seizures have been happening and they’ve been really draining  
> will try to be more consistent moving forwards
> 
> ADAM SAVED THEM!!!!! Nd now they gotta work together to survive yeet
> 
> thanks for reading ily


	35. Jurassic moon

I steer us to a moon orbiting a gas giant in the inner Xerion system. According to my scans, the moon has a breathable atmosphere, liquid oceans, and even life of some sort. It seems like the Xerians had a base here at some point, but it’s fallen into disrepair.

 

As we touch down at the base’s launchpad, I notice the moon looks a lot like I imagine Earth would have millions of years ago. “Alright, crew, we’re at an abandoned base in the Xerion system. I’m assuming we don’t have many supplies, so we can loot the inside. Since the Sincline has such a unique signature, we can’t stay for long.”

 

“How much do you really expect to get from this tiny base?”

 

“Great question, Acxa. Maybe enough to last us a week, if that. But I’ve got a longer term plan if you’re willing to hear it.”

 

“We’re listening,” Lotor says.

 

“Not yet. If I tell you now, you might just kill me and run off with my idea. Now get out of your ship and stand where I can see you. I’m going to come out and join you once you’re all out.” I see four tiny figures exit the ship and stand on the landing pad. “Okay, quit pulling my leg. I know there’s five of you.”

 

“Narti’s not here,” Lotor says, and I roll my eyes.

 

“Yeah, and I’m heterosexual. Where else would she be?”

 

“She’s dead, Adam,” Ezor replies, and I start. “Narti—“

 

“What is that?!” Zethrid interrupts Ezor’s explaination, and I see one of the figures point to the jungle. When I see what’s lurking in the trees, my heart skips a beat.

 

“It must be a native. I will try to negotiate with it—“

 

“Prince Lettuce, no! Don’t move,” I hiss.

 

“Have you met him before?”

 

“No, but trust me! That thing is bad news! I don’t know how it’s here, all of its kind died out around sixty-five million years ago on Earth—“

 

“Oh, it’s an Earthling? Well why didn’t you say so?” Lotor takes off his helmet and starts to walk towards it. It roars loudly, exposing its massive fangs, and lines of scales on its sides and belly start to glow, revealing that it’s exactly what I feared. I remember the massive head, long tail, short forearms, and long, powerful hind legs from pages of books, museum exhibits, and one of my favorite movies growing up: Jurassic Park.

 

“LOTOR, YOU FOOL, IT’S A T-REX!”

 

Acxa mutters, “What’s a T-rex?” The dinosaur starts running towards them, but none of them try to run. Instead, Axca says, “Hey, stop that! Slow your approach or I’ll have to stun you!”

 

I scream in frustration and, before I fully know what I’m doing, I eject myself from the cockpit. As I fly through the air, I summon my Bayard. Landing between Lotor and the T-rex, I thrust my bayard in front of me and close my eyes, hoping I’m not about to get eaten.

 

Instead of feeling a hundred sharp teeth impale me, I feel a slight push. I open one eye to see that my Bayard has taken the form of a massive shield, at least nine meters in diameter. The T-rex stumbles backwards from the force of the collision, and the shield shrinks to fit on my left arm. Before I have time to think, the T-rex charges again, and my shield grows to protect me and Lotor.

 

“RUN!” The three generals have no problem obeying my order, and they sprint towards the base. After fending off another blow, I race towards the entrance, where they’re waiting, but they point behind me. I turn to see Lotor trying to fight off the T-rex with his sword. He jams his sword between its jaws and I scream at him, “What are you doing?!”

 

“Victory or death!” He turns to me with a crazed look in his eyes, brandishing a knife. I look back at the Rex and see the inside of its mouth start to glow.

 

“No!” Again I leap between them, this time facing Lotor, pushing against my shield with my back. I shove Lotor back and he falls on his knees. I can see flames licking at the edge of my shield and my back starts to get uncomfortably hot, but I refuse to give in. Lotor stares up at me, eyes wide. “It doesn’t have to be that way! I know that mentality’s probably been pushed on you ever since you were born, but I promise you, you don’t have to live like this anymore!” The heat stops, and I turn to see the Rex stepping back, preparing its next blow. Before it can hit us again, I change my Bayard into the bow, shoot an arrow at the base’s door, and grab Lotor by the collar of his armor. We zip through the opening then slide across the metal floor, finally tumbling to a halt.

 

I sit up, panting rapidly. Lotor sits next to me in silence, a reflective look on his face. To my relief, the large metal door is closed, and I see the T-rex roaming around outside. Ezor, Zethrid, and Acxa look at me expectantly.

 

“What next?”

 

“You guys need to rest,” I say between breaths. “I’ve been on the receiving end of a blow like that from Haggar before, I know how draining it is. You need to get your strength back before we can do anything. Now let’s find something to eat.”

 

~ ~ ~

 

I whip up some stew from various ingredients and help myself to a large scoop. Lotor fell asleep a while ago, but the other three stayed up to eat. I notice them picking at their food and say, “Come on, it’s not toxic. I’ve made food for you before— why would I poison you now?”

 

“It’s not that,” Acxa mutters. “Yesterday, we were in control of the entire Empire, and now we’re to be killed on sight. We’re all doomed, why should we delay the inevitable by running?”

 

“You’d be surprised at how bad the Empire can be at catching people. I’ve been their most wanted for over a deca-phoeb,” I reassure her. “Plus, you just so happened to get stuck with a professional, we’re gonna be fine!”

 

My attempt at a joke falls flat, and I sigh. “Look, I’m no good at motivational speeches. But you can’t just give up that easily! If the five of us work together, we can make it out of this.” They look at me doubtfully. “We’ve all got different skills that’ll work to our advantage.”

 

I turn to Ezor and say, “You can turn invisible, and you’re quick-witted in the heat of the moment. Acxa, you’re super smart, strong, and you’re one of the best shots I’ve ever seen. And Zethrid, your strength, both physical and mental, is a force to be reckoned with. All three of you are great pilots, excellent in combat, and, most importantly, you look out for each other.”

 

“We didn’t look out for Narti,” Zethrid murmurs guiltily.

 

“It’s not your fault,” I say gently, resting my hand on her shoulder. She’s never let me so close to her. “But you know what? I bet she’d want you to live. See, we have to push on, in honor of her memory.

 

“I know it hurts, and I can’t make the pain go away, but life goes on. Whether we like it or not, time keeps on going, and we’re forced to move on. And yet... you’ll always carry part of her with you. Oh, and you’re not alone in your mourning— you have each other to lean on.”

 

To my complete shock, Zethrid suddenly crushes me in a hug, and I cry out in pain. Spots dance across my vision and someone tries to help me up, but I say, “I’m fine! Nothing’s wrong, I— I’m okay.”

 

I pull myself up, using the nearest wall to support myself. My back has been hurting ever since I saved Lotor’s ass from the T-rex, but Zethrid’s sudden touch made a huge flare of pain shoot through my entire body. Once the pain finally dulls to a manageable level, I notice the generals staring at me. “I— I’m fine, really,” I manage. Noticing Lotor sitting up, I quickly change the subject. “Oh look, the Prince finally awakens! The soup’s cold, but I’m sure it’s still edible.”

 

“How long have I been asleep?”

 

“Just a couple of vargas, don’t worry. Here, eat a bit and I’ll tell you my big plan.” I give him a large scoop of stew and sit in one of the Xerian chairs.

 

“We’re listening,” Acxa says.

 

“Alright, so we’re in the Xerion system right now. I was thinking we could get some supplies from the Xerians.”

 

“But we only have the two ships,” Zethrid says. “How can we attack?”

 

Smirking, I say, “We won’t have to. A couple phoebs ago, Voltron freed their planet from the Empire. We spent a couple quintants there and the locals love me— they’ll be happy to give me and my friends plenty of supplies. But they’ll probably recognize you as Galra, so we’re going to have to get you some disguises. I was hoping we could get some here, but uh... I don’t think they’ll fit.”

 

The very tallest Xerians only reach about a meter in height. I probably should’ve thought about that beforehand. Now that I remember that, I groan, realizing what the next best option is.

 

“We’ll have to go to Space Mall, it’s in the next solar system over. I know a guy there who’ll help us out.” The others seem to be satisfied by my plan, and I notice Ezor yawn. “You three should get some sleep. Prince Lenin and I’ll take the first watch.”

 

Lotor settles in the chair next to me and we sit in silence for a few moments. My eyelids start to droop, so I start fidgeting with my Bayard to stay awake.

 

“Why did you do it?”

 

“Huh?” Lotor’s sudden question surprises me.

 

“First you saved us from destruction at the hands of the Empire. That was understandable enough, you would have lost the other Sincline ship and the comet ore. But you protected me from that beast earlier, even though you got wounded in the process.”

 

“What? No I didn’t—“

 

“Your back is glowing, so it must be radiating more heat than usual. It burned you, didn’t it?”

 

“My back is what now?!” It takes about thirty more minutes of talking with him for me to finally realize what he means. “You must be able to see infrared light,” I conclude at last. “Humans have a limited perception of the electromagnetic spectrum. We can’t see heat radiation. That’s cool that you can, though.”

 

“You never answered my question.”

 

“Ah, well... yeah, I might’ve gotten a bit crispy. But I’m fine, really.”

 

“Take your armor off.”

 

“Wh— what? I know we’ve gotten closer over the past two quintants, but I don’t know you that well!”

 

Lotor pinches the bridge of his nose and replies, “Not like that! All I mean to do is heal you.” He steps towards me and I scoot away from him, hitting my back against the wall. I clench my teeth, barely muffling a yelp of pain. Lotor kneels down in front of me, and I glare at him.

 

“I’m— fine,” I say through my teeth. He looks unconvinced.

 

“You don’t trust me, do you?” I stare down at my feet, not answering. “I understand. You have no reason to— after all, I imprisoned you, I’ve attacked you and your friends in the past, and I am— well, was— the Galra Emperor. But in the past two quintants, you have saved my life three times. I may not understand your motives, but that’s something I don’t take lightly. No harm will come to you now.”

 

“I want to trust you,” I say truthfully. “But I know almost nothing about you. How do I know you’re not lying?”

 

“I swear upon my mother Honerva’s grave,I only want to heal you,” he whispers, looking me dead in the eye.

 

I sigh and start to peel my armor off, wincing as it rubs against my back. Lotor instructs me to lie down on my stomach and starts murmuring in a foreign language. Surprisingly enough, I recognize bits of it, even without my helmet translator on. “You... you speak Altean?”

 

Lotor nods. His hand starts to glow with a soft blue light and he stops his little chant. “My mother was an Altean alchemist. I have studied Altean culture and been able to perform some spells. Now hold still.”

 

His fingertips press against the small of my back, and a calming coolness spreads across my skin. I can’t help but let out a sigh of relief as the feeling washes over me. “Ahhh…”

 

“There. You should be all better now.” I sit up rub my back, not feeling any pain.

 

“Thank you,” I say, smiling a bit at him. “You know, I never thought I’d see dinosaurs in my lifetime. Especially not fire-breathing, glow in the dark dinosaurs from a different planet.”

 

“You’re not going to ask about my mother?” I blink, surprised at his question.

 

“Well, no,” I reply. “My mom’s dead too, so I know that can be a sensitive topic. I figure you’ll talk about her if you want to.” Lotor leans back in his chair, studying me. Self-consciously, I put my shirt back on.

 

“You’re strange,” he finally says, and I glower at him.

 

“Gee, thanks. How so?”

 

“You have every reason to hate me, but you don’t.”

 

“Oh? And what reasons are those?”

 

“I imprisoned you and attacked you and your friends. If given the chance, I would have killed you.”

 

“If that was true, I wouldn’t be here right now. You had countless opportunities to kill me, and you didn’t. As for being your prisoner, I don’t take it personally. We’re on opposite sides of a war, and you gotta do what you gotta do.”

 

“But… how can you look at me and not hate me?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“After all my people have done to you, how do you not seethe with fury when you see me? My own father abducted you, made you fight for the Empire’s entertainment against your will, and even let the witch experiment with you. I embody everything you stand against.”

 

“Your father’s actions are not your actions— I don’t blame you for what he did to me.” Lotor lets out a slight gasp and stares at me with wide eyes. “What, has no one ever said that to you before?”

 

“Never,” he whispers, looking down at his feet. “I’ve always just been Zarkon’s son.”

 

“Hey, look at me. You are not your father, alright? From what I’ve seen in the short time I’ve known you, I can tell you’re a better person.”

 

“Is that why you saved me?”

 

“Pretty much. You didn’t deserve to die like that— none of you. I couldn’t just sit by and let it happen.”

 

“And how do you know we didn’t deserve it?”

 

“I don’t. But my grandma taught me that all life should be preserved, no matter if you think it’s worthy or not. Because after all, who are we to judge who gets to live and who doesn’t?”

 

He chuckles and says, more to himself than me, “Sounds like something she would say.”

 

“And who’s that?”

 

“Shirazad,” he replies, voice full of longing. It’s a good thing I’m facing a window and not him when he says this.

 

“That doesn’t clarify anything,” I reply after a moment, trying to brace myself for whatever response comes next.

 

“We loved each other long ago. But she’s gone, and I’m to blame.”

 

After a moment, I say, “Did you ever, uh, have any children?”

 

“Heavens no! They would be in serious danger if my father learnt of their existence, so we abstained.” I breathe a sigh of relief at this information, knowing that this guy isn’t my great-great-grandfather.

 

“So,” I start, trying to suppress a huge yawn. It doesn’t work.

 

“You need rest,” Lotor realizes. “You have been awake longer than any of us.” If it was any other time, I would have asked him more about Shirazad, but sleep sounds really, really good right now.

 

“Promise not to kill me or let the generals kill me while I’m asleep?”

 

“You have my word.” I try to say thanks, but I’m so exhausted that I fall asleep before I can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for valentine’s day, you get DINOSAURS (also a peek into lotor’s love life and why he’s so lenient with adam)
> 
> before i move forward, let me make one thing clear: Adam and Lotor never get together or anything like that, Adam is completely faithful to Shiro.   
> That being said, I’m really excited to develop this adam-lotor bond further bc they have a lot in common!!
> 
> damn this was a long ass chapter
> 
> THE NEXT COUPLE OF CHAPTERS ARE GOING TO BE COMIC RELIEF BEFORE WE DIVE BACK INTO THE HEAVY STUFF
> 
> THANKS FOR READING ILY ALL


	36. Xerion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i bet you thought you'd seen the last of me
> 
> GUESS WHO'S BACK, BITCHES

The trip to Space Mall goes pretty well, considering the fact that we’re a group of five of the universe’s most wanted criminals. Fortunately for us, there was some sort of convention going on and everyone was in cosplay— of us! It was an event for something called the Voltron Show, so there were quite a few other Adams walking around, as well as other Lotors, Zethrids, Acxas, and Ezors. No one recognized us (in fact, I got told by another Adam that my scar was on the wrong side), so we easily made our way to TERRA.

As my alien friend helped the rest of the group find clothes and makeup, I wandered off and found myself at a vendor where someone was selling mini plushies of all the paladins, including me. Seeing the plushies gave me an idea, so I quickly purchased one and made another Tiny Adam. Unlike the other one, this Tiny insisted on having a “noble steed”, which ended up being a rubber duck I bought from Jess and Meena’s Duck Emporium (yes, apparently that’s a thing.)

After sending Tiny #2 on his merry way, I met back up with the others and we headed to Xerion. As the planet appears in our sights, I say, “Just follow my lead, and no one’ll suspect a thing.” We’re in a generic-looking rebel pod that I borrowed (read: stole) from the Space Mall parking lot and the Sinclines are parked a couple of planets away as a precaution.

A red light pops up on my monitor, indicating that someone is trying to communicate with me. I take a deep breath and answer the call.

“Identify yourself,” a voice says.

“You first,” I reply, answering the question for him.

“Adam?! Is that really you?!” I breathe a sigh of relief at the familiar voice and turn on the camera.

“Hey, Captain Ganymede,” I say, smiling. “Permission to land?” Through comms, Ganymede guides me to a landing strip near the Xerian’s main palace. I park the ship then head into the dock, where the others are waiting.

“I should probably warn you now: there’s a fair chance I’m going to get mobbed as soon as this door opens.” Acxa raises an eyebrow at me, clearly not convinced. “Hey, it’s true. They think I’m the best thing since sliced bread.”

I open the back door of the pod and step out to a crowd of cheering Xerians, restrained by several Xerian guards. The four Grand Council Captains, Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede stand in front of us, and I bow to them respectfully. Lotor and the generals reluctantly follow my example.

“Adam,” Io greets me, “what brings you here?”

“If we knew you were coming, we would have prepared a festival in your honor,” Callisto says sheepishly.

“Ah, there’s no need for that,” I reply, standing up. “See, I got caught by the Galra again recently, and these four helped me escape. We’ve been doing pretty well so far, but we’re running out of supplies, would you mind sparing some food and water—“

“Why, of course! Anything for you, my boy,” a booming voice says, and Chief Captain Jupiter appears before us with a puff of smoke, startling the others in my group. I kneel before him (which actually makes me about his height), but he laughs and says, “Rise. There is no need for such formalities. Come, I will give you a feast in the palace while my people load your craft with our finest goods.”

We’re led to the crystal palace, where I notice a glaring difference from the last time I came here. “Oh,” I say. “You built a statue of me.” Statue-me is made of a giant slab of blue marble, a specialty rock I’ve only seen on Xerion. He’s naked except for a conveniently placed patch of ivy growing between his legs, which I am unbelievably thankful for. In one hand, he holds a guitar, and in the other he holds the planet of Xerion. His left foot is planted atop the severed head of the Galra commander I took out, also made of blue marble. Ezor snickers behind me and I say, “Er... d’you think it’s a bit much? I didn’t decapitate anyone, and I also kept my armor on the whole time—“

“Nothing is too much for you, my dear boy. You are the savior of Xerion!”

I look back at the generals, who are grinning at me, trying not to laugh, and I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “This is gonna be a long day.”

~ ~ ~

The feast went great— I ate the first real meal I’d had in weeks, explained to the others that I had been stranded on Xerion after defeating the Galra commander stationed there and had introduced music into their culture, and I performed a few songs for the eager Xerians. But, of course, since nothing can ever go right for me, a Galra fleet starts attacking just as I’m finishing a song.

Chaos breaks out and I’m swept up in a crowd of Xerians. I fight my way towards Lotor, who’s directing a group to shelter. “Hey, Leroy! What should we do?!”

“Will you ever get my name right?!”

“Sorry,” I shout back. A big chunk of crystal gets shot and starts to fall towards a cluster of people, so I summon my bayard and form my shield over them. “So what’s the plan? Should we get the Sincl— er, the other ships?”

“No. Actually, I don’t think they’re here for us,” Lotor replies. A plane swoops above us, firing at the ground, so I pull him under my shield. “There’s only one cruiser here, and they’re attacking the planet, not the moon where we stored the Sinclines.”

“So why are they here?”

“My guess is that my father is trying to regain lost territory.” Acxa limps through a doorway, and Lotor and I rush over to her. I look out the window and see the stupid statue again, which has surprisingly not suffered any damage. “Acxa, are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine,” she mutters, grimacing. “But the Xerian leaders refuse to leave the Balmera crystal at the heart of the castle.”

“The Balmera crystal...” I’d forgotten that they had a huge, me-sized, power-enhancing crystal. I look back at the statue and get a crazy idea.

As I formulate my plan, Acxa and Lotor are arguing about what to do. “Acxa, we’ll get shot long before we reach them! Besides, once they see the Sinclines, it’s only a matter of time before more cruisers get wormholed in. We can’t reach them.”

“You won’t need to,” I say, standing up. “I think I can do something. You two stay here!”

I run through the palace and find the center, where the five leaders are gathered around the crystal. “Adam?!”

“Yep, that’s me,” I pant, reaching for the crystal. “You guys mind protecting my body? I’m about to try and defeat the Galra, but I’m gonna have to go into the Astral Plane. Oh, and can you channel the power of this crystal into me? I’ve no idea how to do that, but without it, this plan won’t work.” Before they can reply, I say, “Okay, thanks. I hope this works!”

Almost as soon as I close my eyes, I’m in the field of stars again. I can see the Balmera crystal and the Xerians gathered around it, as well as my own sleeping body. As I watch, the crystal starts to emit a strong blue light, which the Xerians then zap my body with. I walk away from them and the statue appears before me. I press my lips against the statue’s giant toe, then, squeezing my eyes shut, I recite Grandma’s spell.

The noise of the battlefield is what I notice first. I open one eye to see the Galra cruiser in front of me, which seems to be loading its ion cannon up. Before I can even think about what I’m doing, I lob the ball in my left hand at it— wait, I was holding something? I look down at myself and realize that holy _shit_ , it worked! The energy of the Balmera crystal must’ve been enough to allow me to possess the statue and become a badass Giant Adam! I hold out my hand and see blue marble paladin armor covering it, much to my relief.

A loud crash behind me interrupts my thinking about how exactly my armor got onto my statue body. I turn to see the castle— wow, it looks so much smaller now— being swarmed by ships. I jump off the statue’s pedestal, inadvertently causing a small earthquake, then march over to the palace and start swatting the purple planes out of the air like flies. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice someone moving on a castle balcony. Looking over, I see Lotor, Ezor, and Zethrid frantically waving at me. I cheerfully wave back and walk towards them. “Look! I’m like Mongo from Shrek 2!”

They start pointing behind me, and with one glance, I realize I forgot about the ion cannon. I grab them and put them on my shoulder, then quickly summon my bayard as I run towards the ship. My shield forms in front of me just before the cannon fires and I’m pushed backwards, nearly losing my balance. As I struggle to keep myself standing, Ezor calls out from my shoulder, “Hey! After the ion cannon fires, the force field will be down for a few seconds! That’s your chance!”

When the cannon lets up, I pull my shield back, scream, “THIS BITCH EMPTY,” and I chuck the shield at the cruiser. It tears through the side of the cruiser, which blows up and goes down in flames.

I blink and I’m back in the crystal room, where the exhausted Xerian leaders look down on me. I give them a thumbs up and try to say, “It worked,” but it comes out sounding like a Minecraft villager. I look down at my hand and realize I never actually gave a thumbs up and also I can’t move. When I try to say something again, I start drooling all over myself.

“Hush,” Io murmurs, placing their cool hand on my forehead. “You must be exhausted. Ganymede, go find Thebe, she’ll be able to heal him.” Ganymede leaves and Io looks back down at me. “Are we safe now? Blink twice for yes.” I do as they say, and the four leaders breathe a collective sigh of relief at my cue.

The door opens again, but instead of Ganymede and Thebe, Lotor and the generals charge into the room. “What just happened?! Adam, explain yourself!” Lotor grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me harshly. My head bounces back and forth, then lolls to the side when he stops. Lotor stares at me as I try to speak, then looks back at the Xerians and asks, “Um, is he okay?”

“He will be,” Jupiter replies. “We just channeled all the magical energy from the Balmera crystal and ourselves into him. His body is not designed to be a vessel for such power, so it seems there are some… side effects.”

“You fool,” Lotor murmurs, looking down at me. “Why would you take that kind of risk?”

“So what you’re saying is, he can’t do that kind of magic normally?” Zethrid sounds worried.

“Of course not. If he wanted to do it alone, he’d need a Balmera crystal at least a hundred times the size of this one, not to mention—“

“We’re back,” Ganymede says, pushing through the door. A small Xerian mage accompanies him. She walks over to me and starts chanting, then presses a glowing hand against my chest. Just like that, feeling returns to my body and I can move again.

I sit up and say, “Thanks for that,” to Thebe, who looks up at me with admiration-filled eyes, then promptly passes out. “Oh shit, is she gonna be okay? Was that a really draining spell or someth—“

“No, she just idolizes you and wasn’t expecting you to actually speak to her.”

“Oh,” I stutter while Acxa snorts in the background. “Well. I, uh, we should be going. Is our ship ready?”

“Somehow it managed to survive the attack, luckily for us,” Ezor replies. “Now come on, Savior of Xerion, we’ve got places to be!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha hey sorry for disappearing (lmao just like my dad)
> 
> WE'VE GOT A CHAPTER ESTIMATE NOW FOLKS!!!!!!!! THE END IS IN SIGHT
> 
> the fact that this man is defending the universe is slightly terrifying
> 
> we're getting real close to the end of s4 aka where lotor comes and joins the paladins! so adam gets to come back and see all the others again!!! but how's he going to react to kuron...?
> 
> she-ra season 2 was WACK omg
> 
> THANKS FOR READING YEET I'LL UPDATE MORE FREQUENTLY FROM NOW ON


	37. Crossing over

“We’re here,” Lotor says. I’m in the Sincline ship with him while Acxa, Ezor and Zethrid are in the other one. After getting supplies from Xerion, I was afraid they’d have no further use for me and they’d either try to kill me or turn me in. They seem to like having me though, and I think maybe, just maybe, I might be getting through to them.

Ezor asks, “What’s that?” I look out the window and see the ruins of a planet that, surprisingly enough, I recognize. 

“Oh! That’s planet Daibazaal,” I say.

Lotor looks back at me and says, “What? Don’t try to tell me you’ve been here.” 

“Well, not physically. My husband and I were bonding with the black lion and she brought us here in the Astral Plane, but then your father came in and tried to kill us. Don’t worry though, we survived.”

“Obviously.” Lotor sighs and pushes his hair back. “Do you know the lore of Daibazaal, too?” There’s a sarcastic tone in his voice and he clearly doesn’t expect me to reply.

“Actually,” I say smugly, “I do. It’s the Galra’s home planet, but it got destroyed when an inter-reality rift was opened. Zarkon got all mad about it and was like, ‘Alfor, you suck, you destroyed my planet so I’ll destroy yours!’ Then he destroyed Altea and that was the start of the Empire as we know it.” Lotor looks really confused, so I say, “I’m part of the Blade of Marmora, remember?” 

“They teach history there?”

“Of course not. I just picked it up from my mentor. Did you know if a human licks someone, we can read that person’s mind?”

“You— you licked your mentor?”

“Nah, I’m just kidding. The blades have rap battles every few quintants, and they roasted each other using facts about Galra history a while back. That’s how I learned about it.”

“What’s a rap ba—“

“Anyway,” Lotor interrupts, clearly annoyed, “Alfor thought he could seal the rift my mother opened, but he failed. If we open the gate into the rift, we can harvest the unlimited Quintessence within.”

“So wait... we’re going to fly into that thing?”

“Don’t worry, Acxa. We have someone who’s done this before,” Lotor says, turning back to look at me.

“Oh, right, when you took the trans-reality comet that we rightfully stole from the evil Alteans in the alternate universe? Yeah uh, not to be the voice of reason, but I’m not so sure we should do this. In that case, the comet was linking the two realities together at the same time and place. But if we’re in the space between... if we’re not careful, we could get sucked into another reality and not be able to get back to ours. We’ve gotta work really well as a team—“

“Only the two of us are going.” 

“Oh. Well, that’s slightly terrifying. Can I ask why?”

“We only have enough power to get one ship through.” 

“Fair enough.”

Lotor turns off coms and adds, “Also, I don’t know what the side effects will be, and I don’t want to risk them getting hurt. Now come on, let’s get this over with.”

Reluctantly, I take the seat next to him. The gate opens and we fly through the white rift, seemingly uneventfully.

“Well that was anticlimactic,” I say.

“Indeed it was, sir,” a voice says besides me, and I almost piss myself. I look around and realize I’m in a completely different ship— an Empire ship. Sitting next to me is Jupiter, my friend from Xerion, but his spiky hair is purple, not its normal blue. He’s also wearing Galra armor, which starts to give me a bad feeling. “Apologies, your Highness, I did not intend to startle you.”

“...What did you just call me?”

He stiffens, then straightens his back and does the Galra salute. “Ah, forgive me, Champion Galra Emperor Adam! I— I thought your Highness was an acceptable way to address you! An honest mistake, I swear! Vrepit sa!”

I look down and realize I’m sitting on a throne, and my stomach churns. Feeling faint, I say, “Where are we? And what are we doing here?”

“We were trying to access the space between realities to harvest quintessence from the Rift, sir. On your orders,” he adds tentatively.

“The attempt to enter the Rift was unsuccessful,” a voice says, making me jump.

“Jesus, can anyone in here say something without giving me a heart attack?! Like, at least make your presence known before you talk!” I turn to see who said that, and my heart nearly stops.

“Sorry, sir,” Sendak says, stepping towards my throne. Kneeling before me, he says, “I assumed you knew I was here, considering we were just having a conversation before crossing.... Sir? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I say through gritted teeth. My instincts are screaming for me to either attack him or get the hell out of here, but my mind knows better. I... I must have travelled to another reality somehow, and now everyone thinks I’m this reality’s Adam. The one who’s apparently the Galra emperor, and who trusts Sendak. If they realize I’m not their Adam, I could be in serious trouble, so I need to play along until I figure out what to do. “I’m just a bit... frustrated.”

“Of course, sir. We can try to fly through the Rift again—“

“No!” My sudden shout makes the others jump, and I cringe a bit at my mistake. “I mean, um, I just want to make sure we get it right before we try again.” In reality, I don’t want to go back through the Rift until I know more. I could end up in yet another reality, even further away from mine, or even glitch myself out of existence if I’m not careful.

“I’ll notify Haggar and the druids,” Sendak replies, getting up to leave. He stops at the door and adds, “Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?”

“Suck a dick,” I blurt out without thinking.

He blinks, clearly confused, then says, “As you wish, sir.”

After he leaves, Jupiter tries to stifle a laugh. I turn to him and he flinches. “Hey, it’s okay, you don’t need to be afraid of me. Do I... do I look any different from before?”

“No, sir. Shall I summon a mirror for you?”

“Oh, sure.” To me, it still looks like I’m my usual self, although I do feel taller. He pulls up the mirror, and my heart stops.

It’s taken me a long time (as well as a lot of reassurance from Takashi that no matter what I look like, I’m still the Adam he fell in love with) to get used to the new appearance the Galra gave me in my own reality. But this “me” is another beast entirely. His hair is longer and completely white, and his skin is a light purple. He has no scar over his eye, but he has dark purple Altean marks that are distorted in a similar way as Haggar’s. He’s significantly taller and more muscular than I, and definitely scarier looking, with fangs that protrude over his lips and ornate Galra armor.

“Now that I look closer, sir, your eyes do seem different... Sir?”

“Please... get out of here.” I feel sick. I need to be alone,” I reply, feeling my heart rate speeding up. I try to calm myself down by taking deep breaths, but every time I look in the mirror, I start to panic all over again. Finally, I get so disgusted by the “me” in the mirror that I punch him right in his hideous face, effectively shattering the mirror. When I look in some of the shards, I’m shocked to see that the real me is reflected in some of them, paladin armor and all. I grab one of them out of the air and look back at the real me, but this time, I see my eyes are wrong. I look in a different mirror shard, one that has the other me, and notice my normal purple eyes staring back at me. “If I’m here,” I murmur to myself, “and I was trying to access the Rift, and this other me was trying to cross the Rift...”

A big explosion rocks the ship, interrupting my train of thought. Jupiter comes rushing back in, and I quickly shove the mirror back into the slot it came from, stuffing the shard I’m holding in my empty knife sheath. “We need to try and go through the Rift again,” I say to him. “Right now.”

“But sir—“

“Yes, I know I just said otherwise, but I changed my mind! We need to go now!

“The engines have blown, sir! We can’t move until they’re fixed!” I slam my fist into the nearest wall, which dents under the force of my blow. Jupiter flinches. “Sir, also, two prisoners have escaped—“

“Prisoners?” My ears perk up at this.

“Yes, sir, the human and the spy. And it appears someone within our ranks is aiding their escape. Commander Sendak is going after them right now—“

“What?!” Before he can say anything else, I run out of the throne room and head towards the escape pods, where I’m most likely to find them. On my way, I spot a display case with two very familiar knives inside— Ulaz’s, which is glowing, and mine, which is not. I hear some commotion further down the hallway, but suddenly, I seem to be in some sort of glowy void. “Aw, hell, what is it now?!”

“Adam,” a disembodied voice says. “I have waited a long time for you. Balance must be resto—“

“With all due respect, can you let me go back to where I was? I’m trying to get back to my own reality, so if you give me a ton of exposition now, you’re just gonna have to explain it to the other me once he gets back.”

“Wh— Are you ready to fight for the honor of Marmora?”

“Ohhhh, I see what’s happening here. Alright, I know what to do with the knife. Thanks!” I close my eyes, and when I open them, I’m back to reality. Well, not my reality, but— you get the point. I see Sendak and several Galra troops at the end of the hallway and I rush towards them.

“Sir,” Sendak says when he sees me, clearly surprised. “Why are you here?”

“Well, I heard there was a prison break. Did you find them?”

“Yes, sir,” he says, gesturing over to three figures. I see Ulaz, Thace, and a person who must be this reality’s Takashi. He’s looking at me pleadingly.

“Oh, these three? They aren’t prisoners.”

“... These are the prisoners you requested be sent to you a couple of quintants ago. The champion, the traitor— well, two traitors now,” Sendak says, glaring at Thace.

“Nah, they’re not traitors. These three gentlemen were helping me perform a simple safety drill. Since the explosions went off and you were fooled by their disguises, you’ll get some points deducted, but this drill was a good baseline. Now, if you’ll give us some time alone, we’ll discuss your scores and we’ll publish a report by the end of the day. Meanwhile, can you get some teams working on fixing the engines?”

“Sir, excuse me, but why do we need these drills?”

I walk up to Sendak and look him dead in the eyes. Fortunately, this me is a few centimeters taller than Sendak, so I get to look down at him. “Your response to this drill proves exactly why we need them. If they had really been prisoners, they could have killed me, your Emperor, and easily could have escaped. And a word of advice,” I say, stepping even closer. “Don’t question my methods ever again. I’m Emperor, you’re not.”

“You’re just emperor because Haggar sent you to Kral Zera instead of me. You’re a pawn, nothing more.”

“Careful, Sendak. I could have you killed for treason,” I snarl back, hoping he’ll back down. We stare at each other for a moment, and his eyes narrow into slits.

“Yes, sir,” he growls, then stalks away from me, taking the Galra soldiers with him. I gesture for Ulaz, Thace, and Takashi to join me in the nearest room. I scan the room for cameras, and, upon finding none, shut the door. I sigh and lean against the door, closing my eyes.

“Man, that was close. Fortunately for you guys, my greatest skill is bullshitting.” After a moment of silence, I open one eye and say, “Seriously? None of you are going to thank me for saving your asses back there?”

“Adam,” Takashi mumbles, taking a step towards me. “Are you— are you yourself again? Are you my Adam?” He presses his hand against my cheek, and I sigh as I lean into it.

“I’m Adam, alright— I’m just not your Adam. Wait, I need to ask you something very important,” I say, grabbing him by the shoulders. “Am I a white person in this reality?”

“Uh, no,” Takashi says, clearly confused by my question.

“Oh thank god,” I say.

“Wait, but if you’re not my Adam, who are you?”

“And why did you save us? Or rather, all three of us?”

“Why wouldn’t I save you, Ulaz? You did the same for me,” I reply, making him look down at his feet. Realizing I made him uncomfortable, I say, “Er... never mind. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I’m from another reality.”

“Impossible,” Thace says.

“Yeah, I thought so too. But there I was, just trying to get into the Rift to harvest some quintessence with Lotor, and next thing I know, I’m in a different ship entirely and people are calling me ‘Emperor.’”

“And why should we trust you? You lied to Prince Lotor about your intentions at Kral Zera, then you decapitated him,” Thace says. I wince at the word “decapitated.” “You told Ulaz you remembered him trying to help you escape and you’d reward him, but instead you imprisoned him and slated him for execution. Whatever game you’re playing here, it won’t work.”

My heart sinks as he and Ulaz glare at me, mistrust in their eyes. Even Takashi looks doubtful. “Please, you have to believe me! In my reality, Ulaz saved me from Haggar’s experimentation, and I’m part of the Blade of Marmora.” Thace scoffs and I say, “It’s the truth! What can I do to prove it to you?”

“Die,” Thace says, then lunges toward me, blade awakened.

“Whoa! That seems kind of extreme,” I say, blocking his thrust with my bayard. “Can’t we talk about this?”

Just then, the door opens and Sendak leaps in and tackles Thace to the ground, pinning him with his cyborg arm. Ulaz steps in front of Takashi protectively. Sendak drops Thace and his arm morphs into a sword. “Apologies, my Emperor, but it seems you were mistaken about these people. I’ll take care of them.” He raises his sword, but I jump between the two of them and protect Thace with my shield. Sendak’s eyes widen and he says, “Sir? What are you doing?”

“Yeah, what are you doing,” Thace echoes, looking up at me.

I look back at Sendak, and push his sword away with my shield. “I know exactly who these people are,” I spit back, “and I’m with them.” I pull out my blade and, hoping this works, I shout, “For the honor of Marmora!”

My blade awakens, and I undergo some magic transformation sequence that’s reminiscent of a certain cartoon character. I point my axe at Sendak and, before I can do anything, it shoots purple lightning at him and he falls to the ground.

“Oh, shit! Is he dead?!” I start to walk over to him, but I catch sight of myself in a glass screen and start. I think I got even taller, but otherwise, I look pretty much the same, except the marks around my eyes have turned to normal Altean marks, which are now glowing purple. I’m wearing a white set of Galra armor and my hair is glowing white, which is new. “Whoa. This is... new.”

Thace walks over to Sendak and stabs him through the heart with his sword. If Sendak wasn’t dead before, he is now. Takashi looks at me, taps Ulaz on the shoulder, and says, “Uh? What happened to him?”

“Yeah, what happened? Usually when I awaken my blade, I don’t magically get different armor. Then again, I also don’t have to say any magic words as if I’m She-ra.”

“Not She-ra,” Thace says, rolling his eyes. “That’s a stupid name.”

“Wh— no it’s not! That’s like, one of my favorite TV shows,” I protest. “But that’s not important right now! I need you guys to listen to me! I really am from another reality. I don’t know how I got here, but I really need to get back. I’m all alone in this reality where I’m apparently a monster,” I say, voice cracking. My shoulders slump and I look down at my feet. “I just wanna go home.”

Another glow comes from me, and my blade shrinks back into a knife. I look back at my reflection, and I see someone who looks more like me, except with completely white hair. The ornate Emperor armor is much too big on me now, and I look far too much like a human to blend in with the Galra. “Huh?”

“You’re cured,” Ulaz says, surprised.

“It must have been the transformation,” Thace says. “Tell me, Adam, do you know the lore of the legendary warrior Gal-ra?”

“Is that supposed to be She-ra, but instead of ‘she’, it’s... never mind. No, I don’t know anything about this because I’m not from this reality!”

“Whoa, Adam, calm down,” Takashi says, putting a hand on my shoulder. “I believe you. You somehow aren’t the corrupted Adam anymore, but you still don’t seem like... my Adam, for lack of a better term.”

“Finally,” I huff indignantly. “Now can I go back to my reality now?”

“I blew out the engines, so the ship will be immobile for a few more hours,” Thace says. Shit, I’d forgotten about that!

“We’d better get down there and see how bad it is.” I start to walk out, but Takashi grabs my wrist.

“You might wanna turn back into the scary warrior guy first. Not to be rude, but, uh, you don’t exactly look like a Galra Emperor right now.”

“Yeah, fair point. For the honor of Marmora!” At the magic words, I turn into the Galra warrior again, but I realize there’s a problem. “Aw shoot, I should be wearing the Emperor armor, huh?” I turn back into myself, take the armor off, then put it back on as the warrior. As I slide the chestplate over my head, I notice Ulaz and Thace staring at me. “What?”

“How are you able to awaken your blade so easily?”

“Ah, in my reality, I’ve been part of the Blade for just under a deca-phoeb. I’m actually your apprentice, Ulaz,” I say, grinning at him. “Oh! That reminds me.” I hand Ulaz the blade I snagged earlier. “This is still yours, right?”

“Yes,” he answers, taking the blade from me. “So you are part of the rebellion in your reality?”

“Bitch, I am the rebellion. I’m the Empire’s most wanted, I’m the black paladin of Voltron as well as the Blade of Marmora’s golden boy. I’m also in the process of bringing Prince Lotor to our side.”

“Impressive,” Thace remarks, and I grin. We head down towards the engine room, where Jupiter is scuffling around trying to organize the Galra troops.

“Hey, Jupiter!” He almost falls off his perch at my voice, but quickly scrambles to recompose himself.

“S- sir! I wasn’t expecting you and your committee! We’re getting the engines done as fast as possible, I promise!”

“How much longer do you think it’ll be?”

“A few vargas at most, sir!” He winces as if he’s expecting me to slap him.

“I’ve been rather cruel to you, haven’t I,” I say, kneeling down to his height. He doesn’t answer, but avoids my eyes. “Tell me, was it always like this?”

“No, sir. When you were a prisoner, you would protect me and the others from Zarkon’s cruelties. When Zarkon died and you were enhanced to be able to take his place, you were kind enough to spare my planet from destruction and to give me this position. Although,” he mutters, slightly off to the side, “the mining of the blue marble is driving my people to the edge of extinction.”

“‘Enhanced’? What do you mean by that?”

“You were a victim of Quintessence poisoning, sir,” Thace cuts in. “I can show you the research done on that subject, as well as some of the inter-reality research.”

“Quintessence... poisoning?” Takashi’s face goes white, and he looks at me with sorrow in his eyes. “Now that you say that, it makes sense but... fuck, I’m sorry, Adam.”

“Not sure what that is, but you can explain it to me later,” I say, then turn back to Jupiter. “After you get these engines fixed, I want you to take a pod back to Xerion and tell the Galra there that the mining is to stop, and all forces are to pull back from your planet. If they question you, tell them you have the word of the Emperor.”

“You should give him your seal,” Ulaz says, handing me a metal disc with a unique coat of arms. I take it and give it to Jupiter, who gazes at me with wide eyes.

“Oh, and while we’re here,” I say, remembering something, “Spread the word that Sendak tried to assassinate me and seize power for himself, but failed. These three men with me tried to warn me of his infidelity, but I didn’t listen. It’s thanks to them that I’m alive.”

“Can do, sir,” he chirps excitedly, looking at me gratefully.

“After that, you are dismissed from my service, on one condition.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Someday, two aliens named Coran and Allura will arrive at your planet. You are to keep them and whatever company they have in hiding, and give them whatever they need. Alright?” He nods, and I pat him on the shoulder. “Now can you get these engines done? The sooner they’re complete, the better for both of us.”

“Yes, sir!” He gives me an enthusiastic salute, then goes to command the hordes of bots working on the engines. I beckon for the others to follow me out, and we start walking through the ship’s hallways. As Thace leads us to my private quarters, I explain to them about my reality.

As we pass through the entrance, Ulaz asks, “So this ‘Voltron’ of yours can pass through realities?”

“Well, it can, but we’ve only done it once, and there was a comet linking the two realities. It was nothing like this jump.”

“Before I was imprisoned, I was part of the inter-reality research team,” Ulaz says, settling on a couch. “It appears you have experienced an indirect crossing.”

“And that is...?” Takashi looks just as in the dark as I am.

“You were trying to enter the Rift in your reality, correct?” I nod, and Thace continues, “So was this reality’s Adam. As you know, reality becomes distorted around a rift due to the intense gravity of inter-reality space.”

“Actually, I didn’t know that. My knowledge of realities is pretty limited,” I say sheepishly.

Thace sighs and says, “Of course you didn’t.”

“That’s alright,” says Ulaz, shooting Thace a glare. “The simplest way to explain this is that you and the other Adam switched bodies. You said you traveled between two realities before that were linked by a comet— now our two realities are linked through you.”

“What?! Shouldn’t I be like... dead or something?!”

“No, the linkage of the two realities is a relatively natural process. Undoing the bond, however, is when things get more complicated...”

“You should be able to return,” Thace says. “However, the Quintessence from between realities might stick to you and cause Quintessence poisoning.”

“Oh, great,” I groan. “So I might end up as sick and twisted as this Adam?”

“Hey! My Adam was never evil,” Takashi protests. I raise an eyebrow at him. “Before the Quintessence poisoning, he was the nicest, most caring person I ever knew!”

“Hm. Maybe our realities aren’t as similar as I thought,” I mutter. “So what is this Quintessence poisoning, anyway? Actually, while we’re at it, what the hell is Quintessence?”

“We’re not exactly sure,” Ulaz admits, frowning. “It seems to be energy created by biological processes, but it exists in excess in inter-reality space, which is devoid of life as we know it. The Quintessence inside an individual can be channeled into an object and amplified to perform seemingly magical tasks. For example, our blades use this trick to transform.

“But Quintessence in its purest form has a corrosive nature. You’ve seen what it’s done to Zarkon.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Over the next few hours, Ulaz and Thace tell Takashi and I everything. They tell us what happened to Zarkon and Honerva, Lotor’s mother, and how after Zarkon died, Haggar channeled the energy of the Rift into this reality’s me, along with a big vat of Zarkon’s Quintessence. They also tell us about the legendary warrior Gal-Ra, who was prophesied to save this universe from the Empire’s tyranny, and who can also cure those who suffer from Quintessence poisoning. Apparently it’s a much bigger problem in this universe than my own. And, of course, the blade of Gal-Ra happens to be the one I awakened. Go figure. Not only is this Adam a lawful good and sickeningly sweet, he’s also got serious protagonist syndrome. Gross.

After a while, Jupiter comes in and tells us the engines are fixed. I thank him and dismiss him from my service, then the four of us head up to the control room.

“Okay so, if everything goes as planned and I get back to my reality okay, here’s what you guys need to do. There’s a planet called Arus, and there should be two Alteans there, Allura and Coran. In my universe, Allura is the most adept sorceresses I’ve ever met that isn’t evil. She should be able to help you guys, but she might be a bit put off by the fact that you’re Galra. Just let her see that I’m Altean and she’ll—“

“Wait, you’re an alien?!” Takashi gapes at me and I roll my eyes.

“Relax, I’m only part alien. My great-great-grandma was an alien.” Poor Takashi looks more confused than ever, so I give his hand a squeeze. “It’s a long story. Your Adam probably doesn’t even know, but you’ll have to trust me on this one.”

“Is this it?” I look over at Thace’s screen, where a map of the Arusian solar system is pulled up. I nod, and he downloads it to a chip. “Alright, we’re ready to try the jump again when you are.”

I’m about to tell him to go for it but Takashi nudges me. “Wait,” he says, grabbing my hand. “What if this doesn’t work? What if I never see you again?”

“‘Kashi, you know I’m not yours.” He looks down at his feet and I add, “And you’re not mine. I don’t belong here and you know it. This is the only way you can get your Adam back.”

He kisses me on the cheek and says, “For good luck.” Then he steps away from me, looking at me all the while. “I think we’re ready too, Thace.” The engines rev up, and the ship starts to glow as we accelerate forwards, towards the glowing Rift...

“—am? Adam!” Lotor’s sitting above me, looking at me concernedly.

“Ungh...” With a groan, I sit up, then notice that my arm has a blue glow outlining it. “Why am I glowing?! Oh god, I’m radioactive, aren’t I? I’m dead, aren’t I? Am I in heaven? Hm, no, Lotor’s here, I must be in hell— Wait! Lotor!” I grab him by the shoulders, then look around. We’re on a piece of Daibazaal under the trans-reality gate, which is closing above us. Acxa, Ezor, and Zethrid are standing by one of the Sincline ships— “Oh! The Sinclines!”

“Ah, that’s good,” Lotor says uneasily, “you remember the Sinclines now? Are you back to normal?”

I pull Lotor into a hug and hold him tight, despite him hissing like a cat and tensing up at first. “I have never been so happy to see your stupid face, Prince LinkedIn.”

He pushes me away with a scoff and says, “Good, you’re fine. You had me worried for a dobosh there.”

“Aww, you were worried abo—“ I start to tease him, but a jolt shoots through my whole body and I fall to the ground, paralyzed.

Before my vision fades, I hear Acxa’s voice say “For Narti,” and Lotor hits the ground. I feel myself starting to be dragged away, and before I lose consciousness, my last thought is ah shit, here we go again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’M BACK BITCHES
> 
> now that graduation and school is over, I should be more active! also, I moved to a new house and haven’t had proper internet, so that’s been fun. anyway, things are going to happen pretty fast from here on out, so updates should be more frequent!
> 
> i came up with the gal-ra name in the shower and thought i was a genius please love me
> 
> THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND FOR READING


	38. Two bros, chillin in a spaceship

When I wake up, my hands are cuffed behind me. I’m tied to a chair in one of the Sincline’s storage rooms, but the good news is, none of these four know about my laser eye, so they didn’t disable it. I quickly shoot through the cuffs and summon my Bayard, which is sitting on a shelf near me. That seems uncharacteristic for Lotor— _oh, wait_! At that thought, I remember the last thing I saw before passing out. So Lotor wasn’t the one who betrayed me, after all! But why would the generals turn on him?

I sneak towards the main cockpit, where I expect to have a showdown with the generals. Instead, I find Lotor, who’s in a similar situation as I was two minutes ago. He seems to be just waking up. “Huh? What’s happening,” he asks groggily, tugging a bit at the handcuffs. He suddenly gets more frantic, as if he just remembered what happened. “Where are you taking me?”

Zethrid’s voice comes over coms and says, “Sorry, sir. But you and Adam are too great of liabilities. We’re turning you in.”

“Pssst, Prince Luggage!” My whisper-yell catches Lotor’s attention, and he turns back to look at me. I put a finger to my lips, then whisper, “If you keep your hands still for a minute, I can get you out of those cuffs!”

“It’s nothing personal,” Zethrid says as Lotor stops squirming. I quickly shoot my eye laser at the links keeping his hands together, and they snap.

“I understand,” Lotor says, placing his newly freed hands on the control panel in front of him. “You’re doing what you must. And I’ll do what I must!” With that, Lotor smashes a button on the control panel. Zethrid lets out a startled cry which gets cut off as her suit loses signal. Lotor puts the engines at full thrust, making me swear and grab on to the doorway for dear life. I look behind us to see the other Sincline ship getting smaller and smaller as we speed away.

“Hey, would you slow down?! They’re not even chasing us!” Lotor shows no sign of hearing me and continues to speed through the universe in hyperdrive, only stopping when the Sincline’s engines threaten to overheat. Of course, he stops really suddenly, causing me to fly past him and slam into the windshield above him. He jumps a bit when it happens.

“What, did you forget I was here? And after I just saved you, too.” I push back against the windshield, which is surprisingly unscathed, and unstick myself from it. “It’s a good thing I was still wearing my armor. I could’ve died, you know. All for the sake of you being dramatic while you make your getaway— hey, are you listening to me?”

“Mhm,” Lotor mumbles, clearly not paying attention. He sighs and closes his eyes, leaning his head back against his seat.

I walk over to him and, after a moment, give him a little nudge. “Lotor? What’s going on?”

He opens one eye and says, “I’ve just been betrayed by the only three people left that I trust and every plan that I’ve had for the past week has fallen apart. So forgive me if I’m a bit out of sorts.”

“You still don’t trust me, huh? How many more times do I have to save your ass for you to have a little faith in me?”

“It’s not that. I hardly know anything about you, besides your name and that, for all comprehensible reasons, you should want me dead. I can’t read you as well as others and every time I think you’re going to act one way, you do the opposite.”

“Fair, but that’s kind of a ‘me’ thing. People consider me to be an agent of chaos. But I’m not here to hurt you.”

“Then why _are_ you here?”

Now’s probably not the best time to tell him the Blade of Marmora sent me here to spy on him, but before I can think of a lie to tell him, a loud noise comes from the hallway. Grateful for the distraction but also a little worried, I take my Bayard and turn it into the shield. “Wait here,” I instruct him before tiptoeing out to the hall. At first I don’t see anything, but another noise comes from one of the storage closets down the hall. A single can of food rolls out of the doorway and hits the wall. Hardly daring to breathe, I creep towards the closet door, then, shield raised, I peek inside.

Perched atop a crate of supplies, one paw inside an open can, is Kova. I snort and say, “Lucas, you’re not gonna believe this.”

As I pick Kova up and put her on my shoulder, Lotor asks, “Are you talking to me?”

“Duh,” I reply, giving Kova a piece of meat and heading back to the cockpit. “Look! We’ve got a hitchhiker!” When Lotor sees Kova, a look of surprise crosses his face. He reaches out to pet her but she shrinks away from his hand. “Aw, don’t worry, Kova. There’s no reason to be afraid of Prince Lemonade.”

“She’s probably just afraid because the last time I saw her was when I killed Narti.” I jump backwards, causing poor Kova to fall off my shoulders. She lands on her feet and, tail puffed out, bolts off to somewhere else in the ship.

“Bitch, _what_?!”

“Relax. She was already dead before I killed her.”

“Is that cryptic comment supposed to make me feel better?!” He tries to reach out to me, but I jump backwards again. This time, though, I trip and end up falling like a shoujo anime protagonist. Instinctively, I summon my shield and scramble backwards, protecting my face with it.

“Would you just let me explain myself?! You said you wanted me to trust you, right? Well, trust goes both ways. You’ll have to trust me before I can fully trust you. So can you please hear me out?” I sigh and retract my shield.

“Alright,” I concede. Although I’m still suspicious of him, I don’t really want to throw away everything I worked for this past month. Also, he’s not trying to attack me— I don’t want to be the aggressor in this situation. “Go on.”

He blinks, as if he didn’t expect me to actually listen. “When I was dismissed as Emperor, Narti went with me, remember? I didn’t realize it at the time, but the witch had possessed her and used her to spy on us. That’s why all the Galra fleets came and attacked us. If I hadn’t killed her, we’d all be dead right now.”

“What’d you mean about her being already dead? She seemed pretty alive when I last saw her.” I think back to the past week— was it really only a week ago?— when Lotor and Narti came back from that visit. I shudder, remembering how she’d spoken to me in Haggar’s voice.

“It’s the way Haggar controls people’s minds. In order for her to control their actions and speak through them as you described, she has to feed off of the host’s Quintessence. If Narti wasn’t dead by the time I killed her, she would’ve died shortly after.”

“Why? Isn’t Quintessence replenishable?”

“To an extent. Once you pass a particular limit, your Quintessence cannot regenerate fast enough to keep you alive. Your bloodflow starts to decrease, your mind slows down, and all your organs will eventually fail. It’s a very painful process, so it’s merciful to kill the victim immediately.”

“Oh,” I reply. “Well that’s horrifying.”

“Indeed it is.”

“Did you tell the others why?”

“What? No. Why would I?” I stare at him, trying to tell if he’s actually serious. “They know that I do everything for a reason.”

“So let me get this straight— you killed Narti, one of the four generals who are loyal to you, in front of the other three. Then you don’t tell them why you killed her and drag them along on this crazy adventure through space, on the run from the Empire that they had under their control, and now all of a sudden they don’t because of their ties with you. Am I right so far?” Lotor nods, so I continue, “So they’re on the most wanted list because of you, you killed their friend in the same position as you without explaining why, who they assumed trusted you as they did— and you’re wondering why they betrayed you?” I shake my head and he looks down at the floor.

“I never thought of it that way,” he says.

“They didn’t betray you out of malice. They betrayed you because they were scared.”

“...I guess you’re right. I wish I had the time to tell them.”

“Seriously? You didn’t tell them in all those Vargas I was gone?” He looks confused so I add, “Just before this, when we tried to go through the Rift and I got this fluorescent blue glow?”

“‘Vargas’? Adam, do you not remember what happened?” I shake my head and he sighs. “After we crossed through the gate, you attacked me. Your irises turned yellow and your pupils became slits. You kept screaming something about me being a threat to your reign and you tried to kill me, but I managed to knock you out for a few doboshes. When you woke up, it seemed like you were back to your normal self except that you were glowing. Then we both got stunned, and here we are.”

“Oh, sorry about that. That must’ve been the me from the other reality.”

“The other— you went to a different reality?!” All of a sudden he starts bombarding me with questions about the other reality, which I answer to the best of my ability. Once he’s satisfied, he leans back in his seat for a minute, thinking. “This is bad,” he finally says, not meeting my eyes.

“How so?”

“It seems that some of the Rift’s Quintessence attached itself to you when you traversed it. The Quintessence manifested itself as the glowing aura around you. If we can’t find a way to get rid of it…” He trails off, which is never a good sign.

“So we need to get rid of it,” I say, trying not to let my voice shake. “How do we do that?”

“I— I don’t know,” he stammers, starting to wring his hands.

Panic wells up inside me and I ask, “How do you not know?! Haven’t you studied this stuff for like, millennia?!”

“Yes, but it’s not that simp—“

“So what, now I just get corrupted like Zarkon did?!”

“Well, your Quintessence could go into overdrive and speed up all of your bodily processes, eventually causing your heart to explode.”

“ _How is that any better_?!”

“Calm down! We just need to find a Quintessence-draining activity for you to do, but not too draining beca—“ Just then, our ship careens off course, and I see several purple laser beams firing at us.

“Fu—“

“Adam, here!” Lotor pushes a button and a second seat rises up from the ground next to him. Quickly, I sit down as he says, “I’ll steer, you try and take down some of the ships with the cannon.” I try my best to hold them off, but for every ship I shoot down, five more appear in its place.

“Linton, I don’t think this is gonna work,” I shout to him as a cruiser I just shot blows up. I look over my shoulder and see that he has a holograph of an unstable star pulled up on his screen. “Oh god, you’d better not—“

“We have no other choice! They will keep pursuing us through hyperdrive— this is the only way to disable their engines long enough.” Lotor grips the control stick and shoots us forwards towards the supergiant star. I put my helmet on to protect my eyes from the blinding light of the star, but almost take it off just as quickly because of how hot it is. It feels like I’m going to boil alive.

“Lotor,” I pant, “you’re going to kill us both! Didn’t you say you had a Teladuv in this thing?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how to operate it!”

“You don’t know how to— How do you not know how to use it?!”

“There’s no instructions on how to operate the Teladuv. It seems to be an instinctive process— I haven’t figured it out yet.” One of the Galra cruisers behind us cracks in half and falls into the star, creating a massive solar ejection.

“Well, now would be a great time to!”

“You can’t seriously expect me to just open a wormhole?

“Just focus, and think about where you want to go in your mind, and it’ll kinda just happen! You don’t need instructions!” Another cruiser gets pulled into the star and shoots out a massive jet of plasma, which barely misses us. “You’ve got to live in the moment and improvise—“

“That’s what you’re good at, not me! I—“

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot another flare headed straight for us and scream, “LOTOR!” But it’s too late. The full force of the flare hits us, hurling us through space. We both get flung back into our seats by the force, but it slows sooner than I thought it would. Lotor lies limply besides me in his chair, and I notice a dark red gash starting to drip on his forehead.

As soon as I can move safely, I feel for Lotor’s pulse, sighing in relief when I find it. I shift him over to my seat and take his, trying to test out the controls. Unfortunately, the ship’s engines are overheated and won’t be operational for a few doboshes. When I look back at Zarkon’s fleet, he seems to be having the same problem. His remaining ships are moored just out of range of the star.

“Loser,” I say, sticking my tongue out at the fleet. I start to clean Lotor’s head wound with a Xerian blanket, but pause for a second. “Are we moving… backwards?”

Sure enough, the ship is sliding back towards the star, slowly at first but as I watch, Zarkon’s stationary fleet comes closer and closer. “What the hell? The engines aren’t back online yet, and I’m not doing that,” I mutter to myself. I check to see if we’re being tractor beamed, but none of the cruisers are anywhere near close enough for that. My heart skips a beat when I realize what must be happening; the star’s gravity is pulling us back in.

“Shit, shit, _shit_!” I frantically try to fire up the engines but nothing happens. I sigh and say, “It’s up to me, isn’t it? I’m going to have to wormhole us out of here.” I look over at Lotor, who’s still very unconscious. “My back is hurting from carrying this team.”

I pull up the Teladuv and grit my teeth, trying to pour all of my energy into opening a wormhole. It’s getting hotter and hotter in the Sincline and the alarms are blaring, making it very difficult to concentrate. As I become more desperate, I see the blue haze around me go into the Teladuv, and see a wormhole open up in front of us. Just before we’re ripped apart, we fly into the wormhole instead, which I use all my energy to keep open. I see a spiral galaxy appear before us and quickly release from the Teladuv. And, as usual, I pass out from the exertion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter adam's gonna finally explain himself, and then after that WE GET A CHAPTER FROM SHIRO'S PERSPECTIVE HECK YEAH I MISS HIM
> 
> i guess you could say adam's burnin up for shiro  
> hahaha oh wait that was in canonverse  
> .... too soon?
> 
> i love how lotor and adam are total opposites but that works to their advantage, like adam is really good at improvising while lotor is really good at planning, adam is a force of chaos and lotor wants everything orderly, adam panics when he can't do anything and lotor panics when too much is happening  
> i juST LOVE THEIR DYNAMIC OKAY??!? THEY'RE MY BROTP
> 
> pls follow me on twitter (@formtroyboltron) i'm lonely
> 
> thanks for reading


	39. Coming clean

“Adam. Adam, can you hear me?” A gentle voice pulls me out of my sleep. I open my eyes to see Lotor sitting above me.

“Lotor…? Wha…” My head throbs as I try to look around. “Where am I?”

“Still on the Sincline. How did you get us out of there?” I stare at him blankly, not understanding what he’s talking about. Impatiently, he snaps, “We were fleeing from my father, I lost consciousness, and now we’re here, on the fringes of the empire. Do you expect me to believe that landing here, with a clear view of your home galaxy, was a coi—“

“I’m... home?” I try to sit up, but my head starts spinning. Flopping back down in the seat, I take my helmet off and say, “Woww. I feel like shit.”

Lotor flinches a bit when he sees my face, then runs off for a minute. He comes back with some water and a scrap of fabric, then starts wiping my nose and mouth. I’m about to ask him why when he pulls the cloth away, which is now covered in red. With his other hand, Lotor gently sweeps my bangs out of my eyes, just like Takashi used to. The sudden gesture startles me, and I start to tear up a bit. “Takashi...”

“Not Takashi, Lotor,” he says, brows furrowing together. “You’ve stopped glowing blue, which is a good sign...” Lotor trails off, looking over at the Teladuv, then back at me. “You... you used the Quintessence from the Rift to power the Teladuv?” That sounds about right, so I nod. “Why would you do something so foolish?”

“We w’re... gettin pulled back int’ th’ star,” I try to explain. “Was th’ only way... t’ get us both out alive.” I let out a small cough, then grab the water from his hand and start to drink. Lotor places his hand on my forehead.

“How do you humans manage internal body temperature changes?”

“Uh... not well?”

“Because you are significantly hotter than normal.”

“... Prince Lennon, are you tryin t’ flirt with me?” Lotor rolls his eyes and glares at me, so I stick my tongue out at him. 

He hands me the water he used to wipe me up with and commands, “Drink.” I happily oblige. As I take a few sips, Lotor turns on the Sincline’s radio and starts flipping through a few different frequencies.

“Attention, citizens of the Galra Empire,” comes Zarkon’s voice from the radio.

“Ugh, I hate that guy,” I mutter, making Lotor chuckle a bit. 

“Prince Lotor is dead. Two Vargas ago, his ship was hit by a stellar flare, then pulled into a star. A scan of the areas around the star has been completed, and Lotor is nowhere to be found. The Empire shall rejoice upon this occasion,” Zarkon says, then his voice cuts out. Static fills the room.

“So… we’re dead now?”

“I suppose so,” Lotor sighs. “Dead and adrift in a remote corner of the Empire.”

“I didn’t mean t’ put us here,” I protest. “I guess I was jus’… thinkin ab’t home. How much I wanna go home. But I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I got dragged int’ this war, ‘nd now all these people ‘re countin on me. As th’ black pal’din, pretty much th’ whole rebellion looks t’ me. When I see these people, desp’rately needin me t’ save their home… I know I can’t save them all. ’S terrifying, Lotor…” I start to tear up, which makes Lotor wring his hands.

“You mustn’t cry! You seem to be severely dehydrated and need to replenish yourself,” he says, tugging on his loose lock of hair. “Is that why you stayed with me? Because you needed a break from paladin duties?”

“... I need to tell you something. Can you promise t’ hear me out b’fore you get mad?”

He ponders for a minute, then says, “It is only fair. You did the same for me.”

“I... I was sent to you by the Blade of Marmora. Leadership thought I’d be th’ best candidate because you’d prolly keep me alive, for information, leverage, stuff like that... I was s’posed t’ go back t’ tell ‘em everythin I could find out, as soon as I got th’ chance.

“I didn’t wanna ‘cept the mission. I’d already been captured nd tortured nd messed up by the Galra enough times, and I didn’t wanna subject m’self t’ that on purpose. But I took the mission ‘cause I wanted t’ prove m’self... nd show them I’m worth all th’ trouble. I’m sorta a safety risk for th’ Blades ‘cause their whole thing is stealth nd anonymity, and since I’m such a public figure, I sorta undermine their whole operation... t’ be honest, I don’t really have anywhere I belong...”

“Stop deluding yourself. You have the Blade of Marmora and Voltron,” Lotor says indifferently. He raises the water to my lips and says, “Drink.”

After taking another large sip, I continue, “But I don’t belong with th’ Blades ‘cause I’m not full Galra, I wassunt e’en born Galra. Nd th’ paladins d’n’t always lis’en t’ me... They pretty much wanna wipe out th’ whole empire, but th’ war’ll last so long that way, yafeel? 

“Anyway... I guess what I was tryin t’ say was that I stayed ‘cause of you. You seem like th’ best chance of stoppin this war. I don’t wanna take you back, though, ‘cause what if they hurt you, and I also don’t wanna fail the Blades nd th’ paladins... I don’t know what t’ do...”

“You need to rest,” Lotor says firmly. “Maybe then, your wits will return to normal. And Adam?”

“Yeah?”

“... You have earned my trust.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> since Adam has finally been honest with Lotor, Lotor trusts him!
> 
> lotor: why are you telling me this now  
> adam: you do crazy things when the author gives you an unexplained illness  
> lotor, internally: he’s lost it
> 
> what adam is suffering from is heatstroke, and he has a really high fever. lotor, however, doesn’t know what a fever is and thinks adam’s dying
> 
> THIS CONCLUDES SEASON 4 (finally)


	40. Together again...?

I wake up alone in an unfamiliar room. It seems to be some sort of hospital wing, but there’s no medical equipment or even nurses nearby. Sitting up, I notice that there’s a damp towel on my head and I’m only wearing my boxers. By my feet, there’s a purple silk robe, which I put on. My Bayard is sitting on a table next to me. I grab it and turn it into the shield, not knowing what to expect. 

I exit the infirmary and start wandering around the hallways, which I soon come to recognize as being part of the Castle of Lions. Confused, I try to think back to the last thing I can remember, which is Lotor telling me he trusted me after I came clean with him. But that doesn’t explain why I would be here, of all places.

I’m not finding any answers roaming the halls, so I decide to head to the bridge of the Castle. On my way there, I see a familiar figure intensely focused on the screen in front of him. In disbelief, I stare at him, noticing the new scar on his cheek, his longer brown hair...

“Matt?” Sure enough, Matthew Holt glances up when I say his name, eyes widening when he sees me. He leaps up and tackles me in a hug. I squeeze him tightly and say, “What... How—?”

“Adam, holy shit, I thought I’d never see you again! You look so different,” he says, still clinging onto me.

“You grew your hair out,” I reply. “I thought I’d never see the day. After you transitioned, I thought you said you’d never grow it long again.”

“Yeah, well, being trans is a lot easier up here in space,” Matt laughs. “No one questions my pronouns or even cares if I’m ‘masculine enough’. All the rebels care about is if I’m willing to fight against the Galra.”

“Oh, you joined a rebel group? That’s awesome! I did too, but it’s specifically for Galra who are fighting against the Empire.”

Matt blinks at me and says, “But you’re not—“

“Yeah, I know. I guess we’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” I say with a grin. Matt grins back at me for a minute, then he gasps.

“Oh! You’re awake! Come on, we have to tell the others!” Matt grabs my hand and starts pulling me towards the bridge. 

“We were all real worried when we saw you, you had a real high fever and didn’t seem to be getting any better,” Matt says as we run along. “Ulaz put you in a healing pod, but it spit you right back out and said nothing was wrong with you! Turns out you’d gotten heatstroke, but get this? Alteans’ internal temperature can fluctuate up to fifteen degrees Celsius and they’ll still be perfectly fine. Pretty neat, right?

“Anyway, we put you in the infirmary, which has pretty much never been used because of the healing pods. Shiro was down there with you at first, but then he came up to do some training. Said it’d help him take his mind off of things,” Matt explains.

“That’s not like him,” I mutter, narrowing my eyes a bit. “Usually if I’m hurt, he’ll plant himself next to me and refuse to move.”

“He says he hasn’t been feeling like himself lately. But hey, maybe he’ll come back around with you here.” We’ve reached the bridge now, and Matt peeks his head through the entryway. “Hey, guys! Guess who’s awake?”

Thace, Krolia, and Coran look up from a game of Uno. I start to tear up a bit as I say, “Hey. It’s... it’s really nice to see you again.” Before I know it, all three of them have me wrapped in a ginormous hug. I close my eyes and grin, cherishing the moment.

“So,” I say once we finally let go, “how exactly did I get here?”

“After you saved Voltron, Lotor turned himself in,” Thace starts, but I interrupt him. 

“Woah, hang on a tick. Last I remember, Lotor and I were drifting near the Milky Way, waiting for the Sincline’s engines to cool down. I’d just been fried by a star, and I was in no condition to save Voltron.” Krolia and Thace look at each other, then back at me.

“What? But that would mean—“ Coran starts.

“Lotor was the one who saved us,” Krolia interrupts, frowning. “Adam, are you sure?”

“Yep. I’d just opened a wormhole and was suffering from heatstroke, apparently. I could hardly even move.”

“You opened a wormhole? How are you still alive?!”

“I used the inter-reality Quintessence that stuck to me after Lotor and I tried to cross through the Rift at Daibazaal. He was trying to harvest Quintessence from the space between realities, but something went wrong and I switched places with the me from another reality. Oh, and in that reality, I was the Galra Emperor.” Upon seeing the others’ confusion, I add, “Yeah, long story. So Lotor saved you guys?”

“Voltron was about to get blown to pieces by a planet-bomb Haggar made, but then Lotor’s ship came and blasted right through Haggar’s shield and attacked her ship. We all thought it was you, so we let the ship come into the castle, but then Lotor came out carrying you on his back... We were real worried you wouldn’t make it,” Matt says.

“But you are here now,” Thace says, putting a hand on my shoulder. “That is what matters.” His mouth quirks up into a smile and he says, “You should have seen Ulaz when he found out about your mission.”

“Oh, man, I bet he was pissed.”

“He and Shiro are visiting Kolivan right now. If not for Antok, I would be concerned for Kolivan’s life. Although, I imagine Antok will be quite angry as well...” We share a laugh, then I hug him again.

“I missed this,” I murmur, leaning into his shoulder. For the first time in over a phoeb, I actually feel safe, like I don’t have to be on guard. 

“The paladins should be back any minute,” he says. “Voltron was needed to secure a supply route after the battle at Naxzela.”

“Wait... but if Takashi’s with Ulaz, and Voltron is at the supply route, who’s flying the black—“

“ADAM!” Someone’s running towards me, so I instinctively summon my shield and put itin front of me.

Lance skids to a stop before he hits my shield and says, “Woah!” Seconds later, he adds, “Cool new Bayard form!”

I sigh in relief and retract the shield, then reach out to hug him. “Hey, kid. How’ve you been?”

“Good, how ‘bout y—“

“LANCE AND KEITH STARTED DATING!” Pidge’s interruption makes me jump.

I grab Lance by the shoulders and say, “What?!”

“Yeah, it’s true,” he says sheepishly, looking off to the side.

“Aw, man, I can’t believe I missed that,” I groan. “Okay, here’s the million dollar question: who asked who?”

“I did,” Lance says, making Keith mutter and roll his eyes. “We were on this planet watching the sun set and it kinda just... happened.”

“Heh, I knew you’d pull through. Takashi owes me money now.” 

“Adam! It’s a pleasure to see you again,” Allura’s voice says. I turn to see her in full pink paladin armor, and I feel my jaw drop.

“You... you’re the black paladin, aren’t you?” She nods and I smile at her. “That’s awesome. I don’t think Black could’ve chosen anyone better.”

“You really think so?”

“Of course! Allura, you’ve been leading this team the whole time, really, you’ve just never been in the cockpit. It’s what you deserve.” She gives me a little smile, then suddenly hugs me tightly.

“It’s just so hard,” she whispers. “Everyone is looking to me for answers that I do not have. The decisions I make can cause the liberation or annihilation of entire planets, and whatever I do, there’s always something I could have done better.”

“I know exactly how you feel,” I murmur back. “It’s not as great of a job as everyone thinks. But hey, now that I’m back, we can work together, right? We can be, like, co-paladins. As long as the black lion’s okay with that.” In the distance, I hear a lion’s roar. Allura and I look over at the direction where it came from, then look back at each other.“Well, I guess that’s a yes.”

“...Adam?” And there it is, the voice that I’ve been waiting to hear. Slowly, I turn around, hardly daring to breathe.

He’s right there in front of me, my Takashi... but something’s off. As I look at him, I notice tiny details about him that are different. His prosthetic is slightly higher up on his arm, his hair is cut too short, shorter than he would ever have it cut, and his eyes... 

“Adam, oh, Adam, I missed you so much,” the familiar stranger says, running towards me. He crushes me in a hug, and I flinch. “Adam...”

It takes me a minute, but I finally reply to him. “Hey... Shiro.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRANS MATT HOLT TRANS MATT HOLT TRANS MATT HOLT
> 
> adam’s back with the gang!!!!! and he and allura are sharing the bp role!!!! personally I think the bp is a role that no one person should take on, so adam and allura sharing it is good for both of them. that being said, both of them are extremely capable as bp on their own
> 
> Adam k n o w s 
> 
> also lotor’s fine he’s just chillin in the cell in the basement
> 
> thanks for reading


End file.
